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Ljungberg helps Sounders end 6-game winless streak

Jun 14, 2009 - 6:00 AM By MARK MOSCHETTI STATS MLS Correspondent

SEATTLE (STATS) - Freddie Ljungberg wasn't sure why more of Seattle's shots didn't go into the goal Saturday night.

But enough did find the back of the net so that for the first time in more than a month, the Sounders got back into the win column.

Ljungberg capped a first half of Seattle dominance by scoring into a wide-open net in the 42nd minute, then set up Fredy Montero's goal with a corner kick early in the 59th as the Sounders beat the San Jose Earthquakes 2-1 to snap a six-game winless streak.

Seattle (5-3-5) had gone 0-1-5 since a 2-0 victory over San Jose on April 25 in Seattle.

"I wasn't thinking it was a must-win - we weren't playing badly or anything like that," Ljungberg said. "But we thought it would be nice to win at home."

San Jose (2-8-3), which entered on a two-game unbeaten streak after going eight without a win, remained at the bottom of the Western Conference with nine points.

Ljungberg's goal came after Earthquakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon personally kept his team in the game by making three point-blank saves, one of which was a reaction save off his right leg on a shot by Montero just 4 minutes before Ljungberg scored.

"I don't know how he kept the ball out of the net. I was about to celebrate," Ljungberg said. "It was nice when (my) goal did go in."

The Sounders, who felt they had outplayed Columbus in a 1-1 tie May 30 and CD Chivas USA in a 1-0 loss June 6, were happy to pick up three points, especially since Saturday's game was the first of three in eight days.

"When you're on a streak when you're not getting wins, right now, we'll take the win," coach Sigi Schmid said. "In Chivas, we came away with a loss and probably played a better 90 minutes than we played today. But at the end of the day, it's a good, solid win."

Brad Evans started Ljungberg's scoring play when he took the ball away from fallen defender Jason Hernandez just on the Earthquakes' side of midfield. Evans got it ahead to Montero down the left side, and Montero sent it on to Sebastien Le Toux, who passed to Ljungberg in the left side of the box.

Ljungberg beat Cannon to the ball, lofting it over him and into the center of the net for his second goal of the season.

"We needed to hold the ball a little more to kind of weather their storm," Cannon said. "We were unfortunate not to go in at halftime 0-0 with Ljungberg scoring so late.

"I think we can score from almost nothing, so it's really important we shore up our defense right now."

The Sounders made it 2-0 in the 59th minute. Ljungberg's corner kick from the right floated toward the middle of the box, where Patrick Ianni got it over to Montero at the left post for an easy tap-in and his team-leading fifth goal.

Darren Huckerby got San Jose back within 2-1 in the 68th minute when he ran onto a well-placed cross by Ryan Johnson and drove a 12-yard shot past Kasey Keller from straight on.

The Earthquakes nearly tied it in the 84th minute when Johnson had a shot inside the top right corner of the 6-yard box with Keller caught in traffic off his line, but it flew wide of the far post.

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Story from: STATS LLC, http://www.stats.com.