Neagle gives Sounders win

SEATTLE – It might have been the loudest cheer of the year.

When  Sounders FC forward  Lamar Neagle slammed home a go-ahead goal in the 81st minute against the rival  Vancouver Whitecaps, a season-high crowd of 53,679 at CenturyLink Field burst into a frenzy.

The late goal allowed Seattle to escape with  a 3-2 win Saturday after blowing an early 1-0 lead. The Sounders (6-4-3) have won five of their last six games and boast the best record in MLS over the past eight games at 6-1-1.

Vancouver (4-5-4) still has not beaten a Pacific Northwest rival – Seattle or Portland – in 12 games since joining MLS, with seven losses and five ties.

Saturday, Neagle was the reason why.

The Federal Way, Wash., native played a vital role in all three goals, setting up midfielder Andy Rose for the game opener, drawing a penalty kick that would tie the game in the 70th minute after the Whitecaps took the lead, and finishing the comeback himself.

Neagle, sometimes overlooked nationally in the Sounders’ talent-rich attack, is tied for the team lead with four goals and three assists.

Trailing 2-1 in the second half, the Sounders were ever dangerous in pursuit of an equalizer.

Seattle would get the PK, when Neagle was hacked down near the goal by defender Jordan Harvey. And Servando Carrasco, making his seventh straight start, finished confidently for the first MLS goal of his three-year career.

Neagle’s winner was set up by Obafemi Martins, who made a clever move to create space to the left of goal before crossing the ball in front of the goal for a tap-in.

The Sounders improved to 5-0 in front of home crowds larger than 50,000.