Sporting Kansas City recorded the team's fifth shutout in the past six MLS matches with a 1-0 road win over the first place Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Sunday at BC Place. Homegrown defender Kevin Ellis scored the game-winning goal in the 52nd minute on an assist from Krisztian Nemeth and goalkeeper Tim Melia matched his career high with six saves in the clean sheet.
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Melia, who lowered his league-leading goals against average to 0.56 and improved to 6-1-2 in 2015, was called into action early by a Whitecaps side that had scored in each of their past six matches and had only been shutout once at home all year. In the ninth minute, Melia dove low to his left to punch away a header from Octavio Rivero then quickly recovered to turn away Cristian Techera's follow-up effort with his right foot.
Two minutes later, Melia raced off his line to block away an attempt from Kekuta Manneh at close range then was rescued by Benny Feilhaber's goalline clearance on a header from Tim Parker shortly thereafer. Sporting Kansas City continued to weather a series of squandered scoring opportunities from the home side with rookie outside back Amadou Dia playing a large part, first recovering to intervene on a breakaway by Techera in the 16th minute and again denying the Uruguayan with a last-minute clearance off the goalline in the 61st minute.
Sporting Kansas City's best chance to breakthrough in the first half came via a set piece in the 23rd minute. Feilhaber's delivery found Dom Dwyer at the backpost however his header was directed narrowly wide of the post.
No MLS team has scored more headed goals in 2015 than Sporting KC (9) and Ellis added to the team's aerial prowess with his second career MLS goal in the early stages of the second half. Jacob Peterson did well to win a corner kick through his pressure on Jordan Harvey near the endline and the hustle ultimately set up the decisive goal when Ellis timed his run perfectly and met a pinpoint pass from Nemeth with a glancing header inside the far post.
The lead almost doubled in the 58th minute as Nemeth and Feilhaber combined for a give-and-go before the Hungarian struck a first-time shot from 30 yards out that beat Whitecaps goalkeeper David Ousted only to then hit the post. Peterson was first to the rebound but sent his first-time shot whistling wide before coming close again in the 70th minute. The 10-year MLS veteran nearly capped off a 14-pass sequence with his first goal of the season if not for a sprawling save by Ousted.
The Whitecaps' search for an equalizer in the final 15 minutes was limited to two shots on target as a result of set pieces. Techera, who led all players with three shots on goal in the game, put a free kick on frame in the 76th minute that was tipped over the crossbar by an alert Melia. Then in the 90th minute, Parker's header was bound for the back of the net until Melia extended to his right at full extension to preserve the victory.
Sporting Kansas City - which earned the club's first conference road win of the year on Sunday - now leads all MLS teams with 1.76 points per game at the halfway juncture of the club's regular season. Sporting KC sits in sixth place in the West, two points back of the conference leaders entering next Saturday's home match against the Montreal Impact.
A limited number of tickets are available via Ticketmaster.com for the match, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. CT at Sporting Park on KMCI-TV 38 the Spot and SKCTV affiliates. The first 10,000 fans inside the gates will receive a commemorative Graham Zusi poster courtesy of Blue Cross Blue Shield of KC.
Major League Soccer
Regular Season: Game 17
BC Place | Vancouver, Canada
Attendance: 21,000 (sell out)
Weather: 72 degrees and mostly cloudy
Video Highlights
Goal: Kevin Ellis (52')
<strong>Score</strong> |
<strong>1</strong> |
<strong>2</strong> |
<strong>F</strong> |
Sporting KC (8-3-6, 30 pts) |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Vancouver Whitecaps FC (10-8-2, 32 pts) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Sporting Kansas City: Tim Melia; Amadou Dia, Matt Besler, Kevin Ellis, Saad Abdul-Salaam; Soni Mustivar, Roger Espinoza, Benny Feilhaber; Krisztian Nemeth, Dom Dwyer, Jacob Peterson (Connor Hallisey 83)
Subs Not Used: Jon Kempin, Erik Palmer-Brown, Paulo Nagamura, Servando Carrasco, Jimmy Medranda
Vancouver Whitecaps FC: David Ousted; Steven Beitashour (Robert Earnshaw 84), Kendall Waston, Tim Parker, Jordan Harvey; Matias Laba, Gershon Koffie (Deybi Flores 59), Mauro Rosales, Cristian Techera, Kekuta Manneh (Erik Hurtado 80); Octavio Rivero
Subs Not Used: Paolo Tornaghi, Christian Dean, Kianz Froese, Nicolas Mezquida
<strong>Stats</strong> |
<strong>SKC</strong> |
<strong>VAN</strong> |
Shots |
13 |
13 |
Shots on Goal |
5 |
7 |
Saves |
6 |
4 |
Fouls |
12 |
16 |
Offside |
1 |
3 |
Corner Kicks |
2 |
6 |
Misconduct Summary:
SKC -- Benny Feilhaber (caution; reckless foul) 20
SKC -- Soni Mustivar (caution; tactical foul) 58
VAN -- Kendall Waston (caution; dissent) 73
SKC -- Krisztian Nemeth (caution; delaying a restart) 86
SKC -- Dom Dwyer (caution; unsporting behavior) 88
Scoring Summary:
SKC -- Kevin Ellis 2 (Krisztian Nemeth 3) 52
