Seattle Sounders 3-1 Minnesota United · MLS regular season · Lumen Field, Sept. 26 · Goals: Morris 16', Dotson 35', Markanich 57', Arriola 83' · Seattle: 35 points, seven matches unbeaten

Slowly but surely, the vibes keep improving. Seattle got goals from Jordan Morris, Hassani Dotson and Paul Arriola, while Albert Rusnák added two assists as the Sounders followed Wednesday's win over Real Salt Lake with another three points.

What fans said

After spending much of the summer wondering where the production would come from, callers were encouraged by the recent resurgence of some of Seattle's most important veteran players.

Morris opened the scoring with an excellent finish off a perfectly weighted Rusnák ball, while Rusnák continued a run of form that's seen him pile up assists over the last several weeks. Arriola then came off the bench and put the game away with Seattle's third.

As Chad pointed out, Seattle are suddenly finding goals from some of the players they need most:

“Somehow we're finding more goals ... with Rusnák, with Morris, and they're producing again.”

Seattle stuck with the kids and might have found something

The injury crisis forced Seattle to lean heavily on younger players this season. As miserable as that situation became at times, callers pointed out that the Sounders may ultimately come away from it having accelerated the development of several useful pieces.

Sebastian Gomez provided a secondary assist off the bench against Minnesota. Stuart Hawkins has continued to earn meaningful minutes at center back. Snyder Brunell and Peter Kingston have been thrown into big roles, while Caden Clark has provided another intriguing young attacking option since arriving late in the season.

As FC Valkyrie put it:

“We just took our lumps with the kids, and there's a lot to be said for that.”

The payoff might not just be about surviving this season. Seattle suddenly knows considerably more about the young talent on its roster than it did a few months ago.

Better, but not convincing yet

There was plenty to like about the result, but callers also weren't ready to declare Seattle completely fixed.

Minnesota created several dangerous second-half moments, including Anthony Markanich's goal and a late sequence that required Jackson Ragen to clear the ball off the line. Seattle won, but there were stretches when the match was considerably less comfortable than the final score suggests.

FC Valkyrie wanted to see Seattle exert more control through midfield after halftime, particularly against a Minnesota side playing on the road and chasing the game.

That's the tension surrounding this team right now. The results and performances are clearly improving. Whether that improvement holds up against better opposition remains an open question.

The take that's right

“We just took our lumps with the kids.”

This might be one of the few silver linings of Seattle's injury nightmare.

The Sounders could have responded to the crisis by abandoning their developmental pipeline or scrambling for short-term fixes. Instead, Schmetzer kept giving meaningful minutes to players such as Hawkins, Brunell, Kingston and Gomez. Not every performance was perfect, and there were certainly moments when the lack of experience hurt them.

But Seattle now enters the stretch run with legitimate young options who have already been tested in MLS games.

Hawkins, in particular, looks like someone who can compete for significant center-back minutes going forward. Gomez has provided some attacking juice. Kingston has shown he can handle first-team minutes. And adding Clark gives Seattle another 23-year-old attacker with considerable upside.

As Valkyrie put it: “I'm mad about where we're at, but I'm not mad about the future.”

What it means for Sporting Kansas City

The Sounders finally have something resembling momentum.

They're unbeaten in seven and have won consecutive matches for the first time since before their summer collapse. More importantly, the attack is producing again: Seattle has scored multiple goals in three straight matches, with Morris, Rusnák and Arriola all finding form at the same time.

Now the task is to keep it going against last-place Sporting KC, who are coming off a galvanizing win in their own right with a 2-0 win over the Houston Dynamo in Matchday 28.

Watch fans react streams live on YouTube after every Seattle Sounders match.

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