Photo by Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports

By LEOPOLDO PONCE

In a game that was missing both Robbie Keane and Clint Dempsey, the LA Galaxy ended up coming out with all three points as they defeated the Seattle Sounders thanks to contributions from Alan Gordon and Jaime Penedo.

Gordon ended up scoring the only goal of the night in his 200th Major League Soccer appearance, leading the Galaxy to a 1-0 win Sunday night at StubHub Center.

Bailed out by Jaime Penedo time and time again, the Galaxy ended up repaying the goalkeeper for keeping them in the game by scoring against the run of the play off of a free kick in the 23rd minute. The free kick was put into the box by Juninho, and De La Garza ended up getting a head on the ball which Gordon then headed in for the goal.

Early in the first half Seattle was showing signs that they missed Dempsey less than Galaxy missed Keane, as they looked like the better side. Every Sounders attack seemed to be passing through Marco Pappa, and with good reason as he became one of the more dangerous players on the field.

As the game progressed, however, the Galaxy ended up marking Pappa much closer and this eventually stopped Seattle from scoring what seemed like an inevitable goal as they were attacking with more numbers than the hosts.

After the goal it seemed like Galaxy pumped themselves up and started looking like a side that deserved to be in the lead.  This was short-lived as Seattle ended the half looking like the more dangerous side.

The second half started much like the first half ended, and how most of the game had been, with Seattle dominating and creating the better scoring opportunities. To their misfortune, they became a broken record as they failed to convert on any of their early second half opportunities.

One of the more dangerous opportunities for Seattle came in the 56th minute when he barely sent a ball wide of the near post. However, it looked like Penedo had that covered for one of his 10 eventual saves.

Penedo came up big at every opportunity, and came out looking like the better player on the Galaxy squad. He became a major factor in the L.A. not conceding multiple goals.

The Sounders only looked dangerous during a play that saw the Galaxy defenders calling for an offside that was signaled by the linesman but overruled by the center referee. This kept a Seattle attack alive long enough to force a save by Penedo.

Following the victory, the Galaxy return to action April 18 against Sporting KC while the Sounders look to rebound with a visit to the Colorado Rapids that same day.