Sounders FC drops 2-1 road result to New York Red Bulls

HARRISON, N.J. - Despite a late goal from Harry Shipp and a club-record 11 saves from Stefan Frei, Seattle Sounders FC (3-8-2, 11 points) fell 2-1 on the road at the New York Red Bulls (8-4-2, 26 points) on Wednesday evening at Red Bull Arena. After playing four matches in 12 days across all competitions, the Rave Green head into a scheduled FIFA World Cup break before returning to action on Saturday, June 23 at home against the Chicago Fire (7:00 p.m. PT / JOEtv, YouTube TV, Univision-Seattle, 950 KJR AM, El Rey 1360 AM).

New York's Daniel Royer scored the opening goal in the 37^th minute, with the home side catching Seattle on the counterattack. Florian Valot made a strong run down the right side, sending a cross into the area that found Royer at the far post for a clean shot that got by Frei. Shortly after the intermission, Bradley Wright-Phillips made it 2-0 in the 52^nd minute with a glancing header to the far post on a cross from Ethan Kutler for his 10^th goal of the season.

Frei recorded a new club record with 11 saves in goal for Sounders FC Wednesday evening, including several notable stops in the first half to keep the match within striking distance for Seattle. After stopping a point-blank Alex Muyl header in the 17^th minute, he leapt off his line three minutes later to thwart a cross that was destined for the head of Wright-Phillips right in front of the goalmouth. In the 36^th minute, Frei dove to his right to make the stop on another strong header from Muyl.

Seattle pulled one back in the 88^th minute courtesy of Shipp's first MLS goal of the season. The 26-year-old midfielder received a pass from Will Bruin near the top of the area and sent a low first-time shot across his body that hit the far post and bounced into the net. It marked the second goal of the season across all competitions for Shipp, who tallied the lone strike in last week's Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Fourth Round loss at Sacramento Republic FC.

Following Wednesday's match, Brian Schmetzer's side has a bye week from MLS play before hosting the Chicago Fire on Saturday, June 23 on the Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink Field (7:00 p.m. PT / JOEtv, YouTube TV, Univision-Seattle, 950 KJR AM, El Rey 1360 AM).

MATCH NOTES

• With the result, Sounders FC is now 3-8-2 on the season and ranks 10^th in the Western Conference with 11 points. 

• The Rave Green are now 5-5-3 all-time against New York, including a 1-4-2 record at Red Bull Arena.

• Sounders FC has a 2-2-1 record this season against the Eastern Conference. The Rave Green have six matches left against Eastern Conference opponents, beginning with the club's next match at home against the Chicago Fire on June 23.
• Goalkeeper Stefan Frei established a new single-match club record with 11 saves on Wednesday, surpassing his own club record (May 5, 2015 at CLB) that he held with Kasey Keller (August 2, 2009 at SJ).

• Harry Shipp scored his first regular-season goal and second across all competitions of 2018 for Seattle. The 26-year-old previously scored in last Wednesday's 2-1 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Fourth Round loss at Sacramento Republic FC. It marked the 15^th career regular-season goal for Shipp, and third since joining Sounders FC prior to the 2017 season.

• Chad Marshall became the fourth player (and second field player) to pass the 34,000-minute mark in his MLS career in the sixth minute of today's match. The 15-year veteran and only three-time MLS Defender of the Year winner has 34,084 career minutes played in MLS regular season action.

• Captain Osvaldo Alonso made his first start for Sounders FC since May 5 at Columbus, having appeared as a sub and recorded the game-winning assist over the weekend vs. D.C. United.

• Midfielder Víctor Rodríguez started for the second consecutive match after returning from a knee injury that kept him out of the first 10 games of the season.

MATCH SUMMARY
Seattle Sounders FC 1 - New York Red Bulls 2
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Venue: 
Red Bull Arena
Referee: 
Allen Chapman
Assistants: 
Corey Parker, Andrew Bigelow
Fourth Official: 
Chris Penso
VAR:
 Jorge Gonzalez
Attendance: 
15,553
Weather: 
80 degrees and partly cloudy
SCORING SUMMARY
NYR
- 
Daniel Royer (Florian Valot, Ethan Kutler) 37'
NYR -
 Bradley Wright-Phillips (Ethan Kutler, Sean Davis) 52'
SEA -
Harry Shipp (Will Bruin, Waylon Francis) 87'
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
SEA - 
Jordan McCrary (caution) 74'
SEA -
Harry Shipp (caution) 76'
SEA -
Cristian Roldan (caution) 90'+1'
LINEUPS & STATS

Seattle Sounders FC - Stefan Frei; Jordan McCrary (Magnus Wolff Eikrem 78'), Kim Kee-hee, Chad Marshall, Tony Alfaro (Clint Dempsey HT), Waylon Francis; Nicolás Lodeiro, Cristian Roldan, Osvaldo Alonso - captain (Harry Shipp 59'), Victor Rodriguez; Will Bruin

Substitutes not used:
 Bryan Meredith, Nouhou, Jordy Delem, Alex Roldan
Total shots:
 11 (Rodriguez, 4)
Shots on goal: 
5 (Shipp, 2)
Fouls:
 13 (C. Roldan, 3)
Offside:
 2 (Bruin, 2)
Corner-kicks: 
3 (Lodeiro, 3)
Saves:
 11 (Frei, 11)                

New York Red Bulls - Luis Robles; Ethan Kutler, Tim Parker, Aaron Long, Kemar Lawrence (Connor Lade 61'); Sean Davis, Tyler Adams (Marc Rzatkowski 64'); Alex Muyl, Florian Valot, Daniel Royer; Bradley Wright-Phillips (Derrick Etienne 77')

Substitutes not used: Ryan Meara; Hassan Ndam, Carlos Rivas, Benjamin Mines

Total shots:
 22 (Wright-Phillips, 5)
Shots on goal:
 13 (Royer, 4)
Fouls:
 16 (Muyl, 5)
Offside: 
2 (Muyl/Wright-Phillips, 1)
Corner-kicks: 
6 (Davis, 6)
Saves: 
4 (Robles, 4)