After losing three games in a row at the start of the season, the Seattle Sounders have finally chalked up a victory for the 2016 season. The victory, against Montreal Impact, occurred at the Seattle CenturyLink field on Saturday, April 2 at 7:00 PM. The final score was 1-0. It also marked forward Clint Dempsey’s first goal of the season. The goal was scored during the 79th minute of the match. Dempsey made it off a corner kick by Andreas Ivanschitz, securing the win for Seattle.

It may have been Dempsey’s first goal during a regular game for the season, but it was actually his third from all of his Sounder appearances this year so far. It was also a great night for goaltender Stefan Frei, who had his first shutout of the season. Frei saved four out of four goals.

Seattle coach Sigi Schmid said that it was a squeaky victory. “Sometimes when you’re in a little bit of a bad run like we were through the first three games and things aren’t going your way, sometimes the first one that goes your way is a little bit of a squeaky bum one,” he said.

He went on to say, “Certainly, we need to still get better. I think our ability to keep possession in the final third has gotten better from week to week but we need to get better in terms of finishing.” Indeed, the Sounders have been making a name for themselves this season as a team who can carry an entire game without finishing it. Hopefully that reputation is now changed permanently.

The next Sounders match will be an away game at Houston Dynamo on April 10 at 1:00 PT. Houston’s a long drive from Seattle, but you can still catch the match by tuning in to ESPN, KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, and El Rey 1360 AM.

Going on the road to catch the match? You can still buy tickets. Get them online at Venue Kings. Tickets run as low as $24.36 for general admission to the BBVA Compass Stadium. Club seats are going for $121.02 and Field seats are $130.33 and up.

The next home match will be at Philadelphia Union on Saturday, April 16 at 7:00 PM at the CenturyLink Field. Tickets for that match are also on sale. After that, they will return to the road to play at the Colorado Rapids on Saturday, April 23 at 6:00 PM.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia