The Seattle Sounders are on a roll as the team closes out the month of March unbeaten following their 0-0 draw against Minnesota United on Sunday afternoon.
From finishing the Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16 series with two wins over the Vancouver Whitecaps, to collecting points on the road in three MLS regular season matches, the team has found a way to consistently come out on top in difficult circumstances.
“There's a very good defensive mentality within our group right now,” said defender Kalani Kossa-Rienzi. “Last year, we kind of embraced that next man up idea, and I think in the beginning of this year, we're also kind of feeling that, especially with all these road games and all these games within three or four days of each other.”
“We know that as soon as one person goes down, the next person is going to step up and do his best job.”
Since the start of 2026, the team has only fallen once in seven matches – a road fixture at RSL on Feb. 28. Aside from that, the Rave Green have gained traction across all competitions, showcasing a total of five shutouts.
“The biggest thing is that we have played with the desire to bail each other out when there are individual mistakes during the game, because no game is going to be perfect defensively,” said goalkeeper Andrew Thomas. “But the effort that all 11 guys on the field have put in to [do that] has been awesome, and that's put us in a good position to make plays and keep clean sheets.”
Despite setting a new record for regular-season goal contributions in 2025 with 58 goals and 73 assists (131 total), the Sounders took a step backward in their defensive metrics from the standard established in the prior two seasons.
The hope for this season was to build on last year’s strong offensive form while returning to the lockdown defensive grade of 2023 and 2024. The Sounders conceded just 32 goals in 2023 and 35 in 2024 in MLS play, finishing with the fewest in the league and tied with Nashville SC in 2023.
So far, the Rave Green have been successful with this objective. The team is currently seventh in the Supporters’ Shield standings, just three points back of league-leaders LAFC. The Sounders have qualified for the CCC Quarterfinals – all while juggling injuries to several key players like Jordan Morris, Pedro de la Vega, Hassani Dotson and Yeimar.
Seattle has also scored 10 goals in 7 matches across all competitions while only conceding three times. This was due in large part to the tactical improvements made on defense. In 2025, the team had already given up 11 goals in the opening 7 matches and finished the year with 48 let in.
“We've put a lot of emphasis on the defending of set pieces,” said Schmetzer.
Above tactics, Schmetzer described the team as “very connected,” influencing the recent results in a significant way.
“They always fight for each other,” he said. “I think that's one of the calling cards of this particular group. They all work for each other [and] I think that's a tremendous quality to have within the team.”
