Levesque lifts Sounders again

It's hard to imagine there's anybody in the United Soccer Leagues First Division with more of a magic touch than Sounders forward Roger Levesque.

Levesque scored another goal, and goalkeeper Chris Eylander was lights-out in the second half as the red-hot Sounders notched a 1-0 victory over the Puerto Rico Islanders on Saturday night in front of 3,405 fans at Qwest Field.

The win pushed the Sounders (11-5-5) into a tie for first place in the USL First Division with Portland (11-4-5) at 38 points.

No one has been hotter lately than Levesque, who has tallied four goals and six assists in the last six matches. The fifth-year Sounder now has seven goals and nine assists this season.

"I've noticed an increase in his energy, his smarts, his passing, his shooting and his goal-scoring," Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said of Levesque. "He's raised the whole level of his game. I can't tell you what's transpired or changed with him or the team, but he's done great."

The Sounders are unbeaten in their last seven matches.

Levesque put a 17-yard left-footed blast past Puerto Rico goalkeeper Michael Behonick for the lead in the 40th minute.

"He's constantly been putting the ball in the net," teammate Greg Howes said of Levesque. "Hopefully, we can keep riding him. When we've needed a fire, we've been getting it from guys."

Eylander made two spectacular plays on an offensive attack from Puerto Rico in the 80th minute — punching out a shot after Fabrice Noel hit a shot off the crossbar, and making a diving save on a rebound shot by Peter Villegas.

Eylander made eight saves en route to his 10th shutout of the season and ninth in league play. Seattle was outshot 11-2 in the second half and 16-8 overall, but Eylander came up big after intermission with six saves.

"Eylander had to come up with a bunch of good saves," Schmetzer said.

It was Seattle's seventh 1-0 win of the season.

Notes

• The Sounders host the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the 94th Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tournament.

• The Islanders played their first match without starting GK Josh Saunders, who until Saturday had played every minute of the season in goal.

• Seattle defender Taylor Graham (tendinitis) did not start.

• MF Leighton O'Brien sat out his second match in a row with a calf injury suffered in a 2-2 tie with Vancouver on July 27.