Sounders’ Montero scores twice to beat Northwest rivals

PORTLAND – Fredy Montero scored two goals and Osvaldo Alonso added the game winner on a penalty kick to give the Seattle Sounders FC a 3-2 victory over the Portland Timbers on Sunday in the second match between the two Major League Soccer rivals.

The teams played to a 1-1 draw at Qwest Field back in May when they met in the season’s first game of the Cascadia Cup rivalry.

The Sounders (9-4-8) are undefeated in eight straight matches. They were coming off a scoreless draw against the Los Angeles Galaxy last Monday.

Down twice in the heated match, the Sounders hung on until Alonso’s penalty kick in the 83rd minute.

“This was as exciting an atmosphere as I’ve played in Portland,” veteran Seattle forward Roger Levesque said. “With the game going as it did with us going down a goal and then getting it back, then going down again and fighting back, it just kept building and creating that drama and the good guys come out in the end.”

The Timbers (5-9-3) are winless in seven straight games. After a scoreless first half, Portland went ahead early in the second on an own goal and added another from Jorge Perlaza.

“I think offensively we played well,” Timbers coach John Spencer said. “Defensively we let ourselves down as a team.”

The fan-created Cascadia Cup is contested by the three MLS clubs in the Pacific Northwest, the Sounders, Timbers, and the Vancouver Whitecaps.

The opening match between the teams back in May was played in a constant, driving rain.

Sunday’s match, in contrast, was played under sunny skies.

The Timbers scored first on an own goal. Kalif Alhassan fed to Perlaza in front of the net and the ball deflected off Seattle defender Jeff Park and past Kasey Keller.

The Sounders evened it in the 57th minute on Montero’s free kick after a hard tackle by Portland midfielder James Marcelin. Montero doffed his jersey after the goal, which sailed untouched over the line of defenders and out of reach of Portland goalkeeper Troy Perkins.

Portland went up 2-1 when Diego Chara perfectly fed Perlaza for an angled goal from inside the box in the 69th minute. The celebration was short-lived when Mauro Rosales centered the ball to Montero, who beat Perkins in the 74th minute.

Alonso’s penalty kick came in the 83rd minute after Portland defender Eric Brunner was handed a red card for tackling in the penalty box.