The Seattle Sounders managed their first lead of the season thanks to a 17th minute Brad Evans goal and traded goals with the hosts to bring a 2-1 lead into half time. With the back and forth nature of the game so far, nobody thought that one goal would be enough, and Simon Dawkins' 32nd minute strike for the San Jose Earthquake put the game back to square one. However, O'Brian White's goal shortly before the break has given the Sounders the lead once again.
The Sounders could have gone behind as early as the tenth minute after Kasey Keller was forced into pulling off a great save to deny Chris Wondolowski after the dangerman was put clean through by a long ball over the top of the defence. Mauro Rosales also had an early chance, but the ersatz forward couldn't manage to beat Jon Busch from a narrow angle. He made up for it minutes later, however, working his way to the touchline and sending in a low cross that found Brad Evans right in front of the goal. Evans couldn't miss - and didn't, putting the Sounders 1-0 up and giving them their first lead of the season.
Despite the lead, the margin wasn't enough, and the Sounders had plenty of reminders of that before Dawkins equalized shortly after the half hour mark following a fantastic 25 yard pass from Bobby Convey. Dawkins still had it all to do, though and his finish past Keller was outstanding. Seattle were undeterred by being pegged back, however, and White took advantage of some awful defending to head the visitors back into the lead from a Steve Zakuani cross. Keller denied Joey Gjertsen right before the half time whistle to ensure that the Sounders headed into the break with the lead intact.
So, the Sounders are halfway to their first win of the 2011 season. Can they close it out?