Seattle comes together for key 3-1 victory over Thunder

TUKWILA — Injuries, suspensions and time away from the team put the Seattle Sounders in a state of flux.

Disjointed and disrupted by players coming and going from the lineup of late, the Sounders came together when they needed to most in United Soccer Leagues (USL) First Division play.

Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar, who recently missed three matches with an ankle injury, came through with an early second-half goal to lead a patchwork Sounders group to a 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Thunder on Saturday night at Starfire Sports & Entertainment Complex in front of 2,390 fans.

"I didn't train at all this week," said Alcaraz-Cuellar, who had an MRI on his injured right ankle Friday. "I had to rest up my ankle. The MRI was negative. I just have to get through the pain."

Seattle (4-2-5, 17 points) moved into a tie for third place with Portland in the USL First Division standings. The Timbers (4-4-5, 17 points) fell 3-1 at first-place Vancouver (7-2-1, 22 points) on Saturday.

"We don't expect the lineups to change like that, but it's just a challenge for us," Alcaraz-Cuellar said. "We have to get healthy and we have to start hitting our stride.

"Hopefully, this is the start of that."

Alcaraz-Cuellar's first goal of the season broke a scoreless tie in the 55th minute with a walk-in goal after a shot from Sebastien Le Toux drew Thunder goalkeeper Nic Platter out of the goal.

Alcaraz-Cuellar tapped in the open-netter from 6 yards out on the left side for the 1-0 lead, starting a three-goal avalanche.

Seattle's Leighton O'Brien found the net in the 75th minute, glancing in a free kick for a 2-0 lead. The goal was set up when Minnesota's Andres Arango pulled down Le Toux on a run up the left side in the penalty area.

Le Toux, hounded all night by Minnesota, then cashed in himself in the 78th minute for his team-best fifth goal of the season on a point-blank shot off a ball played by Josh Gardner. That gave Seattle a 3-0 lead.

"We were kind of nicked up and dinged up with injuries coming in," Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said. "We still had a pretty good starting 11, but guys just weren't in the same positions."

The Thunder (4-4-2, 14 points) suffered through 320 consecutive minutes without a score before Alen Marcina ended the shutout with a goal in added time of the 90th minute.