MLS scores: Impact, Earthquakes grab first wins of season

It wasn’t the most impressive weekend of Major League Soccer action, but it was certainly entertaining. Every match was interesting for one reason or another, two teams won their first matches of the season, two games were decided on stoppage-time goals and Clint Dempsey did what he’s been doing so much lately.

It took until first-half stoppage time for the Sounders to get on the scoreboard, but once they did, the Rapids had no answer. They didn’t have an answer for Clint Dempsey in particular, as the star set up Lamar Neagle’s opener before scoring two himself to lead Seattle to a comfortable victory. Dempsey now has eight goals in his past five matches.

The Impact finally got off the schneid, winning for the first time this season thanks to an early Felipe Mertins goal. Montreal’s tally came in the 15th minute when Patrice Bernier intercepted a pass and hit a long shot that Zac MacMath couldn’t hold onto, allowing Felipe to tap home the rebound. That’s all they would need to hold off the Union, who had more chances than the home side, but couldn’t convert on any.

A beautiful interchange between Fabian Casitllo and Blas Perez set up Mauro Diaz to finish a gorgeous move and put Dallas 1-0 up just 14 minutes into the match. But it was all downhill from there for the visitors, who played most of the match down a man after Zach Loyd was sent off in the 39th minute. D.C. got level in first half stoppage time through Fabian Espindola, then Bobby Boswell, Sean Franklin and Espindola each scored in a nine- minute span after to hand Dallas their second loss of the season. Dallas finished with nine men after Michel was shown an 89th minute red card.

The Crew are still sitting atop the Eastern Conference, but they will feel as if they should have beaten the Red Bulls on Saturday. New York gave Columbus fits early, but couldn’t turn it into a tally and in the 39th minute, Jairo Arrieta gave the Crew a lead from the spot. Bradley Wright-Phillips got New York level with a great individual goal, though, and Luis Robles made it stand up to get the Red Bulls a valuable away point.

A red card to Aurelien Collin turned the match in New England, where the Revolution scored twice in stoppage time to beat Sporting. Collin was shown the door for a tackle on Diego Fagundez in the 74th minute before Teal Bunbury opened his Revs account with a goal against his former team in the 92nd minute, then Lee Nguyen scored three minutes later to wrap up an unexpected and improbable win for the home side.

The Whitecaps trailed 2-0 at RSL after two goals in the first nine minutes and looked done for. That was especially true in the 86th minute, when the score was the same, but Nicolas Mezquida scored to give them hope. Still, there’s no way a good team like Salt Lake would give up another goal, especially at home, and give away points, right? Only they did, as Sebastian Fernandez scored four minutes into stoppage time to earn Vancouver a shock win in Utah.

Yannick Djalo scored his first career MLS goal and the Earthquakes got their first win of the season, beating Chivas USA who played the final 13 minutes down a man after Dan Kennedy was sent off for handling the ball outside the penalty area. Djalo’s goal was impressive, as he hit Shea Salinas’ looping cross first time on a fully volley.