Seattle Sounders FC vs. Minnesota United FC Recap JUL 18TH 2021

Denis Bouanga, the recipient of the

Golden Boot Award

, scored the only goal of the match as Los Angeles FC triumphed over the Seattle Sounders 1-0 on Sunday night in the Western Conference semifinals.

The third-seeded LAFC will now host the fourth-seeded Houston Dynamo in the conference final on Saturday.

The Sounders' remarkable

league-record 19-game home unbeaten streak

(17-0-2) was broken, dating back to 2014.

The goal was scored on the counterattack in the 30th minute. Timothy Tillman sent a pass ahead for Cristian Olivera, who stepped over the ball and let it go for Bouanga, who was alone on the left wing. Bouanga drove nearly to the top corner of the 6-yard box before blasting a shot over Seattle goalie Stefan Frei's left shoulder and into the far side netting. It was Bouanga's fourth goal of the postseason.

Maxime Crepeau, the goalkeeper, made seven saves to keep the game scoreless. He made a diving stop at the left post on a 20-yard shot by Josh Atencio in the third minute. A minute later, Crepeau charged off his line and slid toward Jordan Morris, with the former trying to chip the ball over the goalie from about 15 yards out. Crepeau reached his left hand up and swatted away the shot.

Crepeau also tipped shots from just outside the penalty area from Alex Roldan and Joao Paulo over the crossbar in the 80th and 81st minutes, respectively. He tipped an Albert Rusnak shot over the crossbar and dove to stop a header from Jackson Ragen at the left post in second-half stoppage time.

Rusnak put a 15-yard shot into the net in the 88th minute, but it came just after teammate Raul Ruidiaz was called for a hand ball.