Sounders edge Wizards 1-0 in US Open Cup

Sebastien Le Toux drilled in a penalty kick in the 89th minute Tuesday night, giving the Seattle Sounders a 1-0 victory against the Kansas City Wizards in a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal.

The Sounders were awarded the penalty kick when Fredy Montero was taken down in the area by Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman.

Seattle keeper Kasey Keller, who was red-carded in the 29th minute when the teams met in a regular-season Major League Soccer game in Seattle on April 11, earned the shutout.

The Sounders will host the Houston Dynamo of MLS in a semifinal game on July 21. The Wizards were eliminated from the Cup in the quarterfinals for the second straight year, having fall to the USL First Division Sounders last season.

Stephen King, who scored Seattle’s winning goal in last week’s 2-1 third-round Open Cup victory at Portland of USL-1, started the play that led to Seattle’s goal. He sent a long through ball to Montero, who advances into the box and was about 15 yards from the net when Hartman, who came out to challenge Montero on the play, took him down while trying to run him off the ball.

Sounders coach Sigi Schmid has a team in the Open Cup semifinals for the fifth time. He won it with the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2001 and was runner-up with Los Angeles in 2002.

This is the third straight year a Seattle team has made the Open Cup semifinals. The USL-1 Sounders got that far in 2007 before losing to FC Dallas, and in 2008 before falling to Charleston of USL-1.

Seattle is on a six-game overall unbeaten streak (4-0-2), which includes two U.S. Open Cup victories.

The Sounders doubled Kansas City in shots, 12-6. That included a 7-3 advantage during the first half when Seattle dominated the opening 20 minutes of play.

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