LOS ANGELES, Nov 11, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Albert Rusnak scored in the 36th minute and Seattle made it stand up in a 1-0 victory over FC Dallas Friday that sent the Sounders into Major League Soccer's Western Conference playoff semi-finals.

Seattle, seeded second in the West, sealed a 2-1 win in the best-of-three playoff series, and booked a meeting with reigning MLS Cup champions Los Angeles FC, who swept the Vancouver Whitecaps in their series.

The Sounders had beaten Dallas 2-0 in their opening match before the Texas club responded with a 3-1 victory to force the decider at Lumen Field in Seattle.

Dallas came into the contest shorthanded, with Argentina's Alan Velasco and American Jesus Ferreira sidelined by injury.

Rusnak's early strike proved enough, the Sounders taking advantage of a poor clearance by Nigerian center-back Sebastien Ibeagha.

Brazilian Joao Paulo intercepted the ball at midfield and played it through to Slovakian Rusnak. His shot found its way under the legs of leaping goalkeeper Maarten Paes.

Rusnak's goal was his second of the series after a strike in the series-opening win on October 30.

Against a depleted Dallas, Seattle controlled the ball for much of the contest, but were unable to capitalize on a string of shots.

Cristian Roldan, Joshua Atencio and Rusnak all fired wide while Paulo and Jordan Morris were denied by Paes before Rusnak scored.

A sterling defensive performance saw Sounders keeper Stefan Frei notch a clean sheet with just one save, of a late header by Nkosi Tafari.

The Sounders are the highest seed left in the West, thanks to eighth-seeded Sporting Kansas City's upset of top-seeded St. Louis City, and will have home-field advantage against third-seeded LAFC.

After surviving a late-season slump to reach the playoffs, LAFC are seeking to become the first team since the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2012 to win a second straight title.

The Sounders are back in the conference semi-finals for the first time since 2020, when they fell in the championship match a year after lifting the trophy.

They also won the title in 2016 before falling in the MLS Cup final the following year.