A jubilant July it has not been for the Seattle Sounders. At least not yet. That fact was never more evident than when the Sounders looked more relieved than overjoyed after defeating the Minnesota Thunder 1-0 last night before 2,259 fans at Qwest Field.

Still fresh off Wednesday's 1-0 exhibition loss to English Premier League club Sunderland, the Sounders returned to United Soccer Leagues First Division action and snapped a string of five matches without a win as rookie Brent Whitfield scored his third goal of the season in the 83rd minute and Seattle goalkeeper Preston Burpo recorded his eighth shutout.

Seattle had been winless since a July 8 victory over Portland, including an 0-2-1 mark in USL First Division matches. Seattle improved to 3-4-2 in July and took over sole possession of fourth place in the league standings with 30 points and an 8-3-6 record.

"It was rough going there on the road," Burpo said.

Seattle hosts the Toronto Lynx on Wednesday. With Burpo leading the league in saves — adding three more last night to give him 80 — it has been the Sounders' offense that has been the main culprit in recent matches, scoring just four goals in those five matches before last night's game.

But Whitfield, who entered the game in the 58th minute, was an instant spark. He received a waist-high pass from Leighton O'Brien, controlled the ball between two defenders and fired just inside the right post for the score. It was O'Brien's first assist of the season.

"Leighton played the ball in to me and it kind of bounced around. I was able to put my foot on it and luckily it went in," Whitfield said. "I kind of saw where the keeper was and I hit it off the hop."

Minnesota (4-7-6) got its best shot in the 64th minute when Matt Schmidt tried to skate a shot past Burpo. But Burpo was able to deflect the shot on a kick save.

"I don't know who hit it, but he'll be regretting that for awhile," Burpo said. "He had a good angle on it, but didn't hit it real well and I think I got a little lucky and my size 9 ½ shoes helped.

"That half a shoe size got the save for me."

Note

• Sunderland drew 0-0 at Portland last night before 15,376. Sunderland finished a four-match U.S. tour 2-1-1.