Smith, Ruidíaz lift Sounders past Galaxy 3-0 – KIRO 7 News Seattle

SEATTLE – Brad Smith scored one goal and assisted another, Raúl Ruidíaz scored two goals and the Seattle Sounders defeated Javier Hernández and the Los Angeles Galaxy 3-0 on Sunday night.

Seattle went undefeated in the young season, scoring two goals three minutes apart in the first half and preventing Chicharito from continuing his goal in the first season.

It was Seattle’s goalscorer that gave the Sounders an early advantage in the 20th minute when Ruidíaz shot a Smith cross past Galaxy goalkeeper Jonathan Bond.

Three minutes later, Smith completed a great build up for the Sounders after his first shot, which Bond parried with a goal for his second straight game. Smith had Seattle’s only goal in a 1-1 draw with Los Angeles FC last week.

Ruidíaz scored a second goal towards the end of the second half, scoring four goals in the young season.

While Seattle created numerous scoring chances at the Galaxy goal, its defense also managed to make Chicharito largely invisible after his blistering start to the season.

Hernández had scored five goals in their first two games for Galaxy, scored a pair in their first 3-2 win over Inter Miami and scored a hat trick in their 3-2 win against New York Red Bulls last week. Hernández was only the second player in league history to score five goals in the first two games of the season, joining former Houston star Brian Chang.

Seattle was determined not to give Chicharito the same leverage. Hernández only had one shot and was never open in a goal position. The galaxy only had two shots on goal in the game.

At the beginning of the second half there was also a brief fear of injury when Hernández landed awkwardly and jumped after a header and immediately grabbed his left foot. Hernández was checked out by sports coaches and appeared fine after limping for a few minutes.

Seattle’s dominance of possession and the limiting touches for Hernández resulted in numerous scoring opportunities for the Sounders in the second half. Kelyn Rowe had two great chances, preferably a header that bounced off the crossbar and the post but didn’t cross the goal line.

Seattle ended with nine shots on goal.