Sporting Kansas City, on the strength of goal by Logan Ndenbe and Daniel Salloi, ended the expansion season of St. Louis City SC with a 2-1 victory on Sunday night, sweeping the best-of-3 first round series 2 games to 0.
The victory marks the second time a #8 seed has knocked out a #1 seed in the playoff round in MLS history. St. Louis, coming off of a humbling 4-1 loss the prior weekend in the first contest, had a late goal from Celio Pompeu but failed to find the tally to even the contest.
With victories in five consecutive MLS matches since the beginning of October, Sporting KC surges into the Western Conference semifinals for a duel with either #4 seed Houston or #5 seed Real Salt Lake.
A record-equaling crowd of 21,650 attended Sunday night’s clincher at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas.