“With the new rule, you have to have majority of the ball [on the penalty spot],” St. Clair said, “I was just letting the referee know that the spot is wrong, because if he goes to the side, that could be the difference of a fingertip save, or the ball going in, that little [millimeter] of the ball.”
Maybe it threw Roldan off or maybe it didn’t, but the result was that Roldan hit his penalty down the center of the goal — and St. Clair didn’t move, palming the shot away.
“I think I always back myself in those moments and try as much gamesmanship as I can, but I know it necessarily won’t always go my way,” St. Clair said. “But I feel confident in being able to try to throw the shooters off and then save the ones that I can as well.”
This is just the third year of MLS playing best-of-three series in the first round of the playoffs, so it’s still a small sample — but things don’t look good for the team that loses Game 1. So far, the team that loses Game 1 is 2-14, in terms of advancing to the second round of the playoffs.
That includes both Minnesota’s and Seattle’s series from 2024. Both teams won Game 1 in penalty shootouts, and went on to close out their series in two games.
