Paul Rothrock, a midfielder on short-term loan from second-division club the Tacoma Defiance, scored in the 87th minute to lead the Seattle Sounders to a 1-0 win over the host Houston Dynamo on Saturday night in wet weather.
Rothrock was on the far side of a play in which a pass was centered and bounced through players from both teams to Rothrock, who tapped in the ball. Rothrock tallied just about four minutes after entering as a substitute.
The Sounders (7-3-2, 23 points) won for the 11th time in the past 12 meetings with Houston.
The Dynamo played more than 56 minutes down a man and more than 12 minutes with nine players on the field. Houston (4-4-2, 14 points) tried to hold on for a scoreless draw after Amine Bassi and Hector Herrera were sent off with red cards.
Bassi forcefully kicked the Sounders’ Nico Lodeiro in the leg with no apparent intent to go for the ball. He was sent off in the 22nd minute with a straight red. That gave the Sounders a man advantage until the 78th minute, when it became a two-man advantage.
Herrera picked up a second yellow card for pulling down Lodeiro from behind and exited the match. Houston couldn’t survive the double bookings.
The match opened up in the 67th minute when Houston’s Corey Baird broke away for a shot that Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei denied. Seattle came back moments later with a shot stopped by Houston goalkeeper Steve Clark.
Before all of the late drama, the match was just about nine minutes old when it was stopped and delayed due to inclement weather. The delay lasted an hour before play resumed.
The Sounders remain in first place in the Western Conference and are 3-1-1 in their last five away matches. The Dynamo lost for the first time at home this season.
–Field Level Media
