SEATTLE, Wash. – The San Jose Earthquakes and Seattle Sounders FC played to a 2-2 draw on Sunday afternoon at Lumen Field to close out the 2022 MLS regular season.
The match saw two goals in less than five minutes into the first half. Seattle opened the scoring in the first minute through Nicolas Lodeiro, but San Jose quickly responded with the equalizer three minutes later. Sounders FC goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland blocked a shot from Cristian Espinoza, but couldn’t contain the ball, falling to Jeremy Ebobisse for the strike.
Seattle retook the lead in the 49th minute with a volley from Nicolas Lodeiro, but the Quakes later found their second goal with a low, curling shot from Cade Cowell.
GAME NOTES
The Earthquakes finished the 2022 MLS regular season with an 8-15-11 record (35 pts.).
San Jose is now 12-15-9 all-time vs. Seattle Sounders FC, including a 6-10-3 record on the road.
The Quakes close an 8-11-8 record in MLS play under interim head coach Alex Covelo.
Forward Jeremy Ebobisse scored his 17th goal of the season and 44th of his MLS career. He set a new single-season career-high in goals and finishes the season third in goals among all American players in MLS, only behind FC Cincinnati’s Brandon Vazquez (18) and FC Dallas’ Jesus Ferreira (18).
Forward Cade Cowell scored his third goal of the season and ninth of his MLS career.
Defender Miguel Trauco made his first MLS start, playing 78 minutes. He also tallied an assist on Cade Cowell’s goal, marking his second assist of the season and of his MLS career. He has now tallied two assists in his last three matches.
MATCH INFORMATION
2022 MLS Regular Season
Seattle Sounders FC 2 – 2 San Jose Earthquakes
Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022 – Lumen Field in Seattle, Wash.
Attendance: 33,910
Scoring Summary:
SEA (1-0) – Nicolas Lodeiro (unassisted) 1’
SJ (1-1) – Jeremy Ebobisse (unassisted) 4’
SEA (2-1) – Nicolas Lodeiro (unassisted) 49’
SJ (2-2) – Cade Cowell (Miguel Trauco) 75’
Misconduct Summary:
SEA – Albert Rusnak (caution) 42’
SJ – Rodrigues (caution) 52’
SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC: Stefan Cleveland; Xavier Arreaga (Jackson Ragen 69), Nouhou, Yeimar Gomez Andrade; Cristian Roldan, Nicolas Lodeiro (C), Albert Rusnak (Leo Chu 69), Alex Roldan (Dylan Teves 83), Josh Atencio, Fredy Montero (Will Bruin 69); Jordan Morris (Danny Leyva 46).
Substitutes not used: Ethan Dobbelaere, Stefan Frei (GK), Jimmy Medranda, Kelyn Rowe.
SHOTS: 16; SHOTS ON GOAL: 6; FOULS: 14; CORNER KICKS: 1; SAVES: 2
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES: JT Marcinkowski; Miguel Trauco (Paul Marie 78), Nathan, Rodrigues (Tanner Beason 83), Tommy Thompson (Jack Skahan 78); Jackson Yueill (C) (Judson 79), Niko Tsakiris, Jamiro Monteiro; Benji Kikanović (Cade Cowell 58), Jeremy Ebobisse, Cristian Espinoza.
Substitutes not used: Matt Bersano (GK), Jan Gregus, Eric Remedi, Shea Salinas.
SHOTS: 12; SHOTS ON GOAL: 4; FOULS: 11; CORNER KICKS: 1; SAVES: 4
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES INTERIM HEAD COACH ALEX COVELO
On today’s season finale vs. Seattle Sounders FC:
“I don’t think it was an up-and-down game. I think we were sleeping when they scored in the first minute. Then we did our job and were able to score quick. But aside from that, maybe they had a little bit more possession, but I think we competed very well. We have some situations where we could have also scored another goal just like them. It was an even game. Playing here in Seattle is very difficult. They’re the reigning Concacaf Champions League champions. We handled [the match] very well.”
On his last match as interim head coach:
“I talked about my emotions the other day. I didn’t talk about it in the past and I am not going to talk now. I think that these guys, this locker room, is very unique. They are very unified, and they are enjoying the way that we are playing. And at the same time, I cannot be more proud. We are working here everyday downstairs, every day with the players, from the medical part and also with Wondo [Chris Wondolowski], Lucho [Luciano Fusco], Steve [Ralston]. We have a lot of value, not only provisional but also as human beings, which is very important. But I am not going to talk more about emotions.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES MIDFIELDER JACKSON YUEILL
On today’s result and closing the regular season:
“It shows a lot of what we have been doing this year. This is a resilient team. I think we battled until the end, and there is a lot of character and a lot of passion in the locker room. The guys have been fantastic the whole year. This is a hard place to play, and although they are not in the MLS Playoffs, they’re a really, really, really good team. To play how we did, we suffered at times, but it was a positive end to the season and I’m proud of the guy’s work today.”
On playing under Alex Covelo and his coaching staff for the majority of this season:
“I’ve been really fortunate to have good coaches in the past. I’ve worked with all these guys at different points in my life and in my career, where it was in college or here. They’re a fantastic group. Since the first day, they gave everything, they showed up for us every day. They helped us integrate into how they wanted to play every game, how they wanted to defend, how they wanted to attack. You can see the passion and excitement and the willingness that they wanted, and that brought a lot to the group. I think they guys responded well to them. Alex [Covelo] and Luciano [Fusco] have a great demeanor of trying to help the guys. Unfortunately, they weren’t helped out a lot throughout the year and struggled a little bit in a couple of unlucky balances, which kind of kept us off of MLS Playoffs. But I’m really happy that we were able to work with them. In the future, I think they are going to do really, really good things somewhere."
