Jeisson Vargas’ goal pushes Impact past short-handed Sounders, 1-0

Montreal Impact forward Jeisson Vargas, second from right, celebrates with teammates after he scored a goal against the Seattle Sounders with an assist from Ignacio Piatti, left, during the second half of an MLS soccer match, Saturday, March 31, 2018, in Seattle. The Impact won 1-0. (Ted S. Warren / Associated Press)
By Mark Moschetti Associated Press

SEATTLE – Jeisson Vargas scored on a point-blank shot in the 60th minute, and the Montreal Impact beat the short-handed Seattle Sounders 1-0 Saturday night.

Montreal (2-2-0) won its second straight after an 0-2-0 start. The Sounders are 0-3-0 for the second time in club history. They also dropped three in a row to start the 2016 season that ultimately ended with them winning MLS Cup.

Ignacio Piatti setup Vargas’ goal. Piatti had the ball on the top right side of the 6-yard box. He tried to take it closer to the net, but couldn’t get past Seattle defender Roman Torres. Piatti passed it back toward the top of the 6, and Vargas sent a wide-open shot into the back left corner, his second goal of the year.

Seattle, which has yet to score this season, had a player sent off with a red card for the third straight game. This time, it was defender Kelvin Leerdam in the 40th minute after he undercut Daniel Lovitz when the Impact defender leaped for a ball on the left side near midfield. As the two got up and scuffled after the foul, Leerdam slapped Lovitz on the left side of his head.

A video review was called, and referee Ismail Elfath came back from it to send Leerdam off the field. Lovitz was issued a yellow for the scuffle.

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