The Seattle Sounders were possibly outplayed, but not beaten.

Roger Levesque ran onto a perfectly placed looping pass from rookie Gabe Sturm early in added time of the 90th minute as the Sounders escaped with a 1-0 victory over the Virginia Beach Mariners last night before 1,402 fans at Qwest Field.

The Sounders (2-1-2, 8 points) outshot the Mariners (1-6-3, 6 points) 19-11 in the United Soccer Leagues First Division game and rode good defense for goalkeeper Preston Burpo's fifth consecutive shutout. Playing with a man advantage over the final 16 minutes helped too.

"We're just making things interesting and keeping all the fans on their toes," said a laughing Levesque after he notched his first goal of 2005. "We didn't want (coach) Brian (Schmetzer) to yell at us after the game. This win was so important for this young team before we go on the road for most of June.

"We've got to get points at home."

Levesque, a third-year forward on loan from the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer, sailed into the air, twisting his body toward the goal and headed in Sturm's long left-footed cross from the left side.

"By the end of the game, we had so many people pushing forward," Levesque said. "I yelled for the ball, looked up and Gabe just played a perfect ball. He put the ball right where he wanted and right where I wanted it.

"At that point, we just needed to hold onto the lead."

The timing between Sturm and Levesque couldn't have been any better on a night when Seattle defender Taylor Graham went high in the air for three legitimate scoring chances on headers.

"We got one (goal), and that's all we're going to need," Burpo said.

"I suppose we're sending the fans home with an exciting finish," Schmetzer said. "It's murder for us as coaches, but that's three much-needed points."

Burpo faced some pressure, but he only had to make two saves to run his scoreless streak to 450 minutes, including 360 in USL First Division action.

Notes

• The Sounders Women posted a 2-0 shutout of the Vancouver Whitecaps yesterday at Qwest Field. Hillary Heath and Malia Arrant each scored a goal for Seattle.

The Sounders will be without defender Michelle French for the next six months because of a knee injury suffered last week.

• The men's team goes on the road for two matches, June 3 at the Richmond Kickers and June 4 at Virginia Beach.

• Seattle's next USL First Division home match is June 21 against the Rochester Raging Rhinos. Seattle is 3-1-2 overall.

• Midfielder Ben Somoza, a University of Washington and Edmonds-Woodway High product, made his first 2005 start.