Alex Roldan face-planting on the Lumen Field turf in the waning minutes of Wednesday’s match was fitting. The Sounders defender couldn’t intercept a cross from San Jose attacker Jeremy Ebobisse, creating space for defender Paul Marie to score an equalizer in the 89th minute.
The errant play let another trophy slip through the Sounders’ hands.
San Jose, which has the worst defense in MLS, left Seattle with a 2-2 draw, a six-game unbeaten streak against the Sounders and the Heritage Cup trophy. Seattle last won the trophy in 2021.
More importantly, the Sounders (13-9-8) missed an opportunity to move up to fourth in the Western Conference standings. Colorado (14-10-5) lost 4-1 at Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday but retains the position, which awards home-field advantage in the opening round, because of the Rapids’ overall wins tiebreaker.
The Heritage Cup series started when the Sounders joined MLS in 2009 to recognize the two clubs who first faced each other as North American Soccer League teams in 1974. The Quakes won 3-2 in March.
San Jose (5-21-3) is eliminated from playoff contention but didn’t play like a team whose remaining matches are just a formality. The Quakes took advantage of the Sounders’ early sloppy passes to build opportunities in transition.
A bad clearance by defender Yeimar opened a lane for the Quakes to score. Cristian Espinoza sent a cross into the box that keeper Stefan Frei misjudged. Amahl Pellegrino was able to wrap an attempt around Cristian Roldan for a goal in the 15th minute.
San Jose’s defense returned the favor with its own poor clearance following a free kick from Albert Rusnák. The ball was headed away but landed at the feet of Obed Vargas. His attempt was blocked, the ball bouncing off teammate Pedro de la Vega and toward Jordan Morris. The ball took another bounce then Morris used an authoritative strike to get it past keeper Daniel to level the score.
Morris used a side-volley to get his brace in the 39th minute. Sounders midfielder Paul Rothrock sent the ball into the box, and Morris took a touch with his left foot to set up the attempt with his right.
The goals pushed Morris’ season total to 13 in MLS play — a career-high. He had 12 during league competitions his rookie season in 2016.
Daniel had two saves against Morris attempts in the second half to deny the hat trick.
De la Vega and Sounders defender Nouhou returned to the starting lineup Wednesday. Nouhou was rested Sunday after returning from an international call-up with Cameroon earlier this month. The technical staff opted to not have de la Vega log heavy minutes during a two-match week and started Georgi Minoungou for Sunday’s win against Kansas City at Lumen.
Sounders players are off through the weekend and will return to training Monday to prepare for their home match against Houston on Sept. 28.