It wasn’t just the Kansas City Royals who beat a team visiting from Seattle this weekend.
Alenis Vargas claimed his second career goal in the 86th minute, lifting Sporting Kansas City to a 2-1 victory over the Seattle Sounders at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday night. Jordan Morris put Seattle on the board in the 12th minute, but Sporting were able to equalize six minutes later off the foot of captain Johnny Russell. Sporting took advantage of Seattle’s Reed Baker-Whiting being sent off in the 73rd minute after he received a second yellow card. The win snaps Sporting’s six-game losing streak in MLS play and moves the squad to 12th in the Western Conference with 14 points. Sporting will visit the Los Angeles Galaxy next Saturday.
The weekend of clashes between Seattle and Kansas City will conclude with women’s soccer this afternoon, when the Kansas City Current host the Seattle Reign, with kickoff at 5 p.m. at CPKC Stadium. The Current and Reign played to a scoreless draw last month in Seattle. The Current remain undefeated on the season, but are third in the NWSL on 25 points but with a game in hand.
The only team from Kansas City that lost last night was the Seattle Kraken’s ECHL affiliate. On the road in Ft Myers, Fla., the Kansas City Mavericks were unable to hold onto a 3-1 lead, conceding two goals to the Florida Everblades in the third period that forced overtime. Matt Wedman netted the goal 3:36 in overtime that not only won Game Five for the Everblades 4-3 on Saturday night, but also Florida’s third consecutive Kelly Cup title.
The Everblades’ parent franchise, the Florida Panthers, also celebrated victory last night when they blanked the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 in Game One of the Stanley Cup Finals in Sunrise, Fla. Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky saved all 32 Oiler shot attempts, while Carter Verhaege, Evan Rodrigues, and Eetu Luostarinen each scored for the Panthers. Game Two is Monday at 7 p.m. in Florida.
Meanwhile In St Louis…
In MLS play, St Louis City SC hosted the Portland Timbers in a scoreless draw Saturday night. Roman Bürki posted his fifth clean sheet on the season, while City recorded 15 shots to Portland’s eight. City are now 11th in the Western Conference with 18 points. Next up for St Louis is a trip to FC Dallas next Saturday.
The St Louis Battlehawks will host the San Antonio Brahmas this evening at 6 p.m. at the Dome of the Americas in the XFL Conference Championship. The winner will face the USFL Conference Champion Birmingham Stallions in next week’s inaugural UFL Championship, which St Louis will host.
St Louis native Jayson Tatum leads the Boston Celtics into Game Two of the NBA Finals this evening at 7 p.m. Tatum had 16 points and 11 rebounds in Boston’s 107-89 win Thursday night against the Dallas Mavericks.