The Seattle Sounders saw their five game league unbeaten streak come to an end, falling 1-0 to a Montreal Impact squad coming off a five game winless streak on a 71st minute goal by substitute Leonardo Di Lorenzo.

The Sounders, coming off an eight day layoff, were caught off by the Montreal manager’s new lineup featuring five new starters as a motivated Montreal Impact squad dominated the first half. The Sounders central midfield, missing starters Danny Jackson and Leighton O’Brien, struggled to control the game.

Brilliant defending by defender Noah Merl and goalkeeper Chris Eylander combined to keep the match scoreless in the first half.

In the 7th minute, Montreal midfielder Arango blasted a poor clearance by Eylander towards the far post, but Merl cleared the ball off the line. A few minutes later, the Sounders once again failed to clear a Montreal corner and Eylander saved a point blank shot.

The Impact continued to pressure the Sounders backline when Montreal midfielder Pat Leduc wiggled free on the left side in the 23rd minute and hit a low shot that Eylander barely got a hand to and Merl then cleared off the line.

Despite being outplayed in the first half, the Sounders nearly found themselves up at the half when midfielder Greg Howes calmly received a cross from the right side and hit a shot toward the far post that the Montreal Impact saved well.

The second half started off slowly as the Sounders finally settled down. However, the Montreal Impact broke through in the 71st minute when Di Lorenzo headed home a cross from Alen Marcina just moments after checking into the match.

The Sounders started to turn the pressure up late in the game as manager Brian Schmetzer went to a two man backline in an effort to find an equalizer. In the 80th minute O’Brien took a cross from Tomlinson and hit a shot from 15 yards that was blocked by a Montreal defender.

Forward Sebastien Le Toux nearly equalized the match in the 90th minute, but weakly shot wide of the goal. The effort summed up an overall frustrating night for the Sounders star French forward, who rarely found space against a strong Impact defense.

The match ended with a flurry of attack on the Montreal goal as the Impact packed 10 men behind the ball to preserve the one goal lead. Deep into stoppage time Roger Levesque headed a ball across the top of the 6 yard box that was handled by the Montreal defender. The official immediately waved play-on and the Sounders were left on the wrong end of the 1-0 score line.

Scoring Summary MON 71 Di Lorenzo (Leduc)