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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

LAFC hands Sounders first loss of season

Mexico national team member Carlos Vela, pictured in a 2018 World Cup match against South Korea, scored two goals to help LAFC defeat the Seattle Sounders on April 21, 2019. (Eduardo Verdugo / Associated Press)

LOS ANGELES – Carlos Vela scored two goals, Mark-Anthony Kaye had three assists and Los Angeles FC beat Seattle 4-1 on Sunday to hand the Sounders’ their first loss of the season.

Vela leads MLS with 10 goals and is tied for the assists lead at five with Toronto FC’s Alejandro Pozuelo.

Kaye cut back to evade a defender near midfield, took a couple dribbles and played a through ball to Vela, who split two defenders at the top of the box before side-netting a left-footer from near the spot to open the scoring in 12th minute.

Eduard Atuesta ran onto a pass by Seattle’s Nicolas Lodeiro that Kaye deflected, hesitated at the top of the box to evade a sliding defender and then ripped a right-footer inside the far post to make it 2-0 in the 39th.

Seattle’s Harry Shipp scored his first goal of the season in the 51st minute, but Vela took a through pass from Atuesta, evaded a charging goalkeeper Stefan Frei and then put away the empty-netter to give LAFC (7-1-1) a 3-1 lead in the 55th. Christian Ramirez back-heeled a pass to Kaye near the top of the box, who rolled it back to Ramirez for the finish from near the spot to cap the scoring in the 61st minute.

Seattle (5-1-1) had its 11-game regular-season unbeaten streak snapped.

U17 wins prestigious event

At age 16 Moses Lake product and former U12-U14 Spokane Shadow player Ray Serrano continues to be a groundbreaker.

On Saturday he rose above a Valencia CF defender in the final seconds of overtime to head home the 1-0 championship-winning goal to lead the U17 Sounders Academy side to the Generation Adidas Cup Champions Division title.

The championship was a first for Major League Soccer, which had never even seen an academy team reach the final of the prestigious international event before.