If ever there was a tale of two halves, Wednesday’s Retro Night showdown between Sporting Kansas City and Seattle Sounders FC provided just that.
Manager Peter Vermes’ men were left frustrated through the opening 45 minutes, having failed to record a single first-half shot attempt for the first time in the club’s 675-game regular season history.
The second half was an entirely different story.
Gerso, Sporting Kansas City’s 26-year-old Designated Player, bagged a scintillating hat-trick in the space of 13 second-half minutes to lift his team atop the Western Conference standings with a resounding 3-0 win over the defending MLS Cup champions.
In doing so, Gerso became the sixth Sporting KC player to score an MLS hat-trick all-time, and just the first since October 2010. It was the club’s seventh MLS hat-trick since the inaugural 1996 campaign, as Eddie Johnson notched two trebles (in consecutive games) in 2007.
SPORTING KC HAT-TRICK HEROES (MLS, ALL-TIME)
<strong>Player</strong> |
<strong>Date</strong> |
<strong>Opponent</strong> |
<strong>Result</strong> |
Vitalis Takawira |
05/16/1998 |
at New England Revolution |
W 3-1 |
Preki |
09/05/1998 |
vs. San Jose Earthquakes |
W 5-1 |
Davy Arnaud |
07/03/2004 |
vs. FC Dallas |
W 5-1 |
Eddie Johnson |
05/26/2007 |
at New England Revolution |
W 4-3 |
Eddie Johnson |
06/02/2007 |
vs. New York Red Bulls |
W 3-2 |
Birahim Diop |
10/23/2010 |
vs. San Jose Earthquakes |
W 4-1 |
<strong><em>Gerso</em></strong> |
<strong><em>05/17/2017</em></strong> |
<strong><em>vs. Seattle Sounders FC</em></strong> |
<strong><em>W 3-0</em></strong> |
Gerso’s second-half salvo was the ninth-fastest hat-trick in MLS history and the first league hat-trick ever seen at Children’s Mercy Park.
“I’m feeling very happy to be a part of this story,” Gerso said of his momentous achievement after the match. “It’s important to get three goals and get this hat-trick, but it’s most important to win as a team.”
Indeed — Sporting Kansas City has made a habit of winning on its home turf over the last 12 months. Wednesday’s 3-0 triumph extended the club’s home unbeaten run to 15 regular season matches dating back to last June. That stretch includes five straight victories, which is the longest active home winning streak in MLS.
Sporting Kansas City has posted five-game regular season home winning streaks on seven occasions. The current run marks the first time in which the club has scored multiple goals in every victory during the streak.
SPORTING KC: FIVE-GAME HOME WINNING STREAKS
(MLS REGULAR SEASON, ALL-TIME)
<strong>Games</strong> |
<strong>Dates</strong> |
<strong>Goals<br>
scored</strong> |
<strong>Goals<br>
allowed</strong> |
<strong>Avg. margin<br>
of victory</strong> |
7 |
05/27/98 to 08/23/98 |
14 |
3 |
1.57 |
7 |
03/25/00 to 05/20/00 |
14 |
3 |
1.57 |
6 |
09/28/11 to 04/14/12 |
11 |
2 |
1.50 |
6 |
04/05/15 to 07/18/15 |
14 |
3 |
1.83 |
6 |
06/19/16 to 08/20/16 |
14 |
3 |
1.83 |
5 |
09/04/04 to 04/02/05 |
7 |
2 |
1.00 |
5 |
03/18/17 to present |
13 |
2 |
2.20 |
As dominant as the hosts were after halftime, Seattle started brightly and nearly drew first blood if not for another stellar outing from Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Tim Melia, who made five saves en route to his league-leading seventh shutout.
Melia has particularly relished facing the Sounders. Aside from last season’s 1-0 playoff defeat — in which Seattle’s Nelson Valdez scored an 88th-minute winner from an offside position — the Sporting KC goalkeeper’s record against the Sounders is nearly impeccable. In five regular season meetings against the Rave Green, Melia boasts five shutouts with a 4-0-1 record. Only Nick Rimando has more clean sheets against Seattle in his regular season career.
REGULAR SEASON SHUTOUTS VS. SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC
(MLS REGULAR SEASON, ALL-TIME)
<strong>Player</strong> |
<strong>Shutouts</strong> |
<strong>Appearances</strong> |
Nick Rimando |
6 |
17 |
<strong><em>Tim Melia</em></strong> |
<strong><em>5</em></strong> |
<strong><em>5</em></strong> |
Jon Busch |
5 |
14 |
Zach Thornton |
4 |
5 |
Chris Seitz |
3 |
8 |
David Ousted |
3 |
11 |
