Gerso scored a sensational hat-trick on Wednesday to power first-place Sporting Kansas City to an emphatic 3-0 victory over Seattle Sounders FC at sold-out Children’s Mercy Park.
The 26-year-old Bissau-Guinean was the first Kansas City player to record an MLS hat-trick since 2010, tallying three times in a rampant second-half performance as Sporting KC (6-2-4, 22 points) pushed its club-record home winning streak to 15 regular season matches — now the longest active run in Major League Soccer – at the expense of the reigning MLS Cup champion Sounders (2-5-4, 10 points).
Goalkeeper Tim Melia produced five saves en route to his league-leading seventh shutout of the season and his fifth in five career regular season appearances against the Sounders, helping Sporting Kansas City move to the summit of the Western Conference table while keeping Seattle stuck in ninth place.