Minnesota United takes Game 1 of MLS playoff series vs. Sounders in 3-2 penalty shootout

Sure, Minnesota United beat Inter Miami earlier this season. Sure, they might go on to do exceptional things in the MLS Cup playoffs.

But for longtime Loons fans, the highlight of 2025 is going to be that finally, after years and years, Minnesota finally seems to have the Seattle Sounders’ number.

That includes a Game 1 victory, as Minnesota took down the Sounders 3-2 on penalty kicks following a 0-0 draw in which both teams had good chances.

Maybe it’s fitting. In a year where Dayne St. Clair has made a convincing case to be named MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, the Loons win once again came down to a place where St. Clair has excelled: penalty kicks.

St. Clair saved one attempt from Alex Roldan, then saw Cristian Roldan clank another off the crossbar. Julian Gressel hit his own post for the Loons, but Danny Levya — needing to score to extend the shootout — hit the post as well.

It was a repeat of Minnesota’s 2024 playoff series against Real Salt Lake, when Minnesota started things off by going on the road and winning on penalties, after a 0-0 draw.

“Some days it doesn’t go in the back of the net, but if you can prevent it from going into yours, you have every chance to win the game,” Loons midfielder Nectarios Triantis said.

Referee Alexis Da Silva, who Minnesota fans remember none too fondly from the Loons’ U.S. Open Cup semifinal against Austin, waved away appeals for a penalty, earning plenty of abuse from the Allianz Field seats.

“[It was] as clear-cut a penalty as I’ve seen not given over the course of this year,” Loons coach Eric Ramsay said. “I’d be amazed if 99 refs out of 100 don’t look at that for five seconds and think that’s a penalty. I think it’s a real shame, in a sense, because you have to be able to trust officials in those moments, that you’re going to get stuff like that, particularly with VAR these days.

“I’m glad I can stand here as a winning coach because I think with that not being the case, that would have been a real tough pill to swallow.”

It was another controversial call from Da Silva and just as he did with his controversial calls in the game with Austin, the referee chose not to use VAR to take another look at his no-call on video. It also turned out to be the best chance to score that the Loons had all night.

St. Clair always turns up the gamesmanship to 11, come penalty shootout time, and it worked out against Seattle’s Alex Roldan.

“With the new rule, you have to have majority of the ball [on the penalty spot],” St. Clair said, “I was just letting the referee know that the spot is wrong, because if he goes to the side, that could be the difference of a fingertip save, or the ball going in, that little [millimeter] of the ball.”

Maybe it threw Roldan off or maybe it didn’t, but the result was that Roldan hit his penalty down the center of the goal — and St. Clair didn’t move, palming the shot away.

“I think I always back myself in those moments and try as much gamesmanship as I can, but I know it necessarily won’t always go my way,” St. Clair said. “But I feel confident in being able to try to throw the shooters off and then save the ones that I can as well.”

This is just the third year of MLS playing best-of-three series in the first round of the playoffs, so it’s still a small sample — but things don’t look good for the team that loses Game 1. So far, the team that loses Game 1 is 2-14, in terms of advancing to the second round of the playoffs.

That includes both Minnesota’s and Seattle’s series from 2024. Both teams won Game 1 in penalty shootouts, and went on to close out their series in two games.

Even apart from the shootout, St. Clair was the standout for Minnesota, especially after making two excellent saves in the second half to keep the game scoreless. First, he turned aside a Cristian Roldan drive that was headed for the bottom corner, reacting quickly with a dive low and to his left. Then, ten minutes from the end, he stood tall to deny a flick from Danny Muskovski at his near post, after the Sounders striker had ghosted into space in front of a defender.

Next Monday’s Game 2 is in Seattle — and it’s late, with kickoff set for 9:45 p.m. Central time. The 8 p.m. start on Monday in St. Paul probably kept the crowd smaller than it might have otherwise been at Allianz Field; given the size and volume of the Lumen Field crowd for a normal Sounders game, Minnesota will probably hope the same is true in Seattle.

“Of course, we want to win, but we know at the same time, this win means nothing if you don’t win the series,” St. Clair said.