Earthquakes dominate play yet suffer first loss of the season

SAN JOSE — All good things must come to an end.

The Seattle Sounders were dominated on the stat sheet by the San Jose Earthquakes but won on the stat that mattered the most, goals scored, in a 1-0 victory on Sunday afternoon at PayPal Park.

San Jose had its three-game winning streak snapped. Seattle has won three out of its first four matches.

German superstar international Timo Werner cracked the Starting XI for the first time in a San Jose kit and played all 90 minutes as well.

“I think we all know he's obviously a very good player," said Earthquakes captain Ronaldo Vieira. "Creates a lot of chances, like you saw today, he created a lot of chances for us. I think overall, for this being his first game—his first start, I think he's fitting in well with the team, and we can only get better. We take on the positives from this game and move on.”

It was a match where San Jose dominated in shots on target (8-4), total shots (25-7), possession (59.6%-40.4%), scoring chances and overall play, but it was one critical mistake that cost them the match and ended their undefeated season.

“You see the difference between the two teams defensively, "said Quakes head coach Bruce Arena. "One team doesn't make a mistake for 90 minutes and the other team does. So, there's still some growth there. We’re making progress. We've conceded one goal in four games.”

Seattle (3-1) finally ended Quakes goalkeeper Daniel’s shutout streak to start the season when they drew first blood in the 20th minute. Jesús Ferreira sent a long ball down the right wing from midfield. Paul Rothrock stayed onside as he raced down the pitch and dribbled into the box before beating Daniel with a right footed shot for his team leading second goal of the season.

San Jose (3-1) had chances early on and towards the end of the opening 45 minutes. Niko Tsakiris had back-to-back chances inside the Seattle box, but the Sounders defenders collapsed down low and blocked both attempts. Beau Leroux also had a shot attempt that was also blocked and away from the net.

The Quakes best scoring chance in the first half came at the 44th minute when Preston Judd was fouled just outside the D by Antonio Lopez. Tsakiris’ free kick just missed the far corner of the net as Sounder goalkeeper Andrew Thomas made a diving attempt at it.

San Jose controlled the pace of play and possession in the second half as they created quality scoring chances only to have Thomas and his backline thwart off any balls that crossed into the middle of the box.

Here's the most infamous stat of the match: San Jose finished with 17 corner kicks. Seattle had ZERO.

“We had 17 corner kicks. You'd like to believe you can be a little bit more dangerous. We weren't good on our corners. Today's service wasn't good. But give Seattle credit, they did a real good job there," Arena said.

The Earthquakes came within inches of scoring the equalizer in the 74th minute. Judd chased down a long ball and was able to chip the ball over Thomas as the ball was heading for the far corner of the net. However, Lopez chased it down before it could cross the goal line and kicked it out of danger for Seattle.

The Sounders thought they iced the game in the 86th minute when Cody Baker scored his first goal of the season. Osaze De Rosario centered the ball to Baker who beat Daniel with a low right footed shot to the far corner. However, after a VAR review it was determined the play was ruled offsides.

Thomas made seven saves to earn his third victory of the year. Daniel made three saves on four shots to suffer his first loss of the year.

GAME NOTES: The San Jose Earthquakes are 15-17-10 (50 GF, 62 GA) in the all-time regular-season series against Seattle Sounders FC, and 8-6-6 (25 GF, 20 GA) at home.

Today’s match marked the first leg of the Heritage Cup, a competition honoring the two teams’ history in the North American Soccer League (NASL). The winner is decided by head-to-head points, then goal differential as a tiebreaker. The Sounders are current holders after a 1-1 draw in San Jose and 3-2 Seattle win at Lumen Field in 2025.

Seattle’s 20th-minute goal snapped goalkeeper Daniel and the Quakes’ club-record streak of not conceding to start a season at 290 minutes.

The Quakes’ 23-game streak of scoring at least one goal dating back to last season came to an end. The last time they were held scoreless was May 17, 2025, at New England, in a 0-0 draw.

Tsakiris had four key passes to up his league-leading total to 15.

The Quakes celebrated its first Hello Kitty Night; the club gave away Quakes x Hello Kitty Tote Bags to the first 9,000 fans through the gates.

San Jose travels north of the border to take on the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday March 21 at 7:30pm at BC Place.