By Pearl Allison Lo

~ The San Jose Earthquakes beat the top MLS team, the Seattle Sounders, in a 2-0 Saturday matchup.

It was San Jose’s first win since May 16, when they won by the same score, their second consecutive win over the Sounders this season, David Bingham’s second consecutive clean sheet and the Quakes’ second shutout on the road.

Seattle was without Clint Dempsey, who was serving the first of this three-game suspension from the US Open Cup.

It was the Sounders’ second scoreless game at home and their second shutout in the last three games.

Quakes’ head coach Dominic Kinnear said, “If you looked at the standings before the game, we were kind of on the outside looking in, so for us to get this win will help us catch up to some teams.”

Former Seattle-ite Sanna Nyassi gave the Quakes their first goal. San Jose was able to get the ball back before it crossed midfield, through fancy footwork as they jostled against along the sidelines. The ball went from Shea Salinas to Matias Perez Garcia to a wide open Nyassi to make it 1-0. Nyassi also had another goal during the game. He last scored on April 11.

The Quakes’ second goal was Matias Perez Garcia’s first goal of the season. It started with a clearance. Cordell Cato then got it when it was still in Seattle’s end and eventually passed it to Perez Garcia. Garcia then worked the ball around several defenders before scoring on goalie Stefan Frei in the 73rd minute. Garcia celebrated by kissing his wrists and kneeling while shooting the air with both hands.

On the goal, Cato said, “We were defending and the ball came out to Matias and I saw that there was open space and he got the ball to me. I made a long run and then I held up for him to catch up. He was asking for the ball and I made the pass and it was magic. He did the rest.”

Game notes: It was San Jose’s Marvell Wynne’s 250th regular season appearance. The Sounders’ Marco Pappa and the Quakes’ Chris Wondolowski were tied with four shots apiece. Changes from the last time San Jose faced Seattle were instead of Paulo Renato, Shaun Francis, JJ Koval and Innocent Emeghara, Clarence Goodson, Jordan Stewart, Shea Salinas and Adam Jahn. Changes from last game were Adam Jahn and Nyassi instead of Mark Sherrod and Cato. Now when getting the first goal and leading at the half, San Jose is  4-0-1 and 4-0-2 respectively in 2015. The Quakes next host the annual California Clasico against the Los Angeles Galaxy at Stanford Stadium June 27 at 7:30pm.