Conor Casey scored a second-half goal and the Colorado Rapids held on to defeat the low-scoring Seattle Sounders 1-0 on Saturday night.
Casey scored his fourth goal of the year for Colorado (5-3-1). His previous three goals came on penalty kicks.
"There was no monkey to be taken off my back by that goal," Casey said. "I was eventually going to score a goal off a play."
The Rapids avoided being shut out for the fifth time this year, while goalkeeper Matt Pickens posted his third shutout of the season.
Seattle (3-5-3) was shut out for the fifth time this season. The Sounders have a Western Conference-low nine goals, one fewer than the Rapids.
"We had some good chances in the first half and didn't capitalize on our chances," Seattle coach Sigi Schmid said. "If you give up a goal and you don't score, you lose the game."
A quad injury kept midfielder Osvaldo Alonso of the Sounders' lineup.
Each team had scoring chances but nothing to show for it in the first half. Seattle's Pat Noonan had a header smothered in the opening moment by Pickens. Seattle goalkeeper Kasey Keller caught a header by Colorado's Omar Cummings from just outside the crease in the eighth minute.
"On another night we could have gotten off to a flying start and my nerves wouldn't have been jangling as much as they were at the end," Colorado coach Gary Smith said. "We controlled large portions of the first period and I thought we well deserved to win."
Neither team mounted a scoring threat in the second half until Casey took a pass from Cummings at midfield and carried it to just outside the scoring box.
"Conor scored a terrific goal from play and should give the fella a huge boast," Smith said. "While he has been criticized for not scoring as people might suggest, his general play has been an absolute rock out front for us."
Casey freed himself from Seattle midfielder Steve Zakuani and sent a shot past Keller's right arm in the 63rd minute.
"I got tangled off the defender and Kasey was off the line," Casey said. "I tried to go back post and luckily it found its way in."
Fredy Montero had a chance to tie it for the Sounders, but sailed a shot from the slot over the crossbar in the 69th minute. Freddie Ljungberg sent a free kick from 28 yards out over the crossbar in the 84th minute.
