Wisconsin Soccer Central

Calum Mallace (Marquette) and the Montreal Impact are 90 minutes away from advancing to the CONCACAF Champions League final.

Mallace came on the final 28 minutes as the Impact blanked Costa Rican club Alajuelense 2-0 in the first leg of a semifinal series Wednesday night in front of a crowd of 33,675 fans at Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

Ignacio Piatti and Victor Cabrera scored in the opening 15 minutes for the Impact, who will try to become the first Canadian club to reach the CCL final in the second leg April 7 in Alajuela, Costa Rica. The tiebreaker in the two-leg series is away goals, which means that Montreal's clean sheet on Wednesday could be important.

On Twitter: @CMallace10

• Goalkeeper Charlie Lyon (Marquette) officially signed with Major League Soccer's Seattle Sounders FC on Tuesday. Lyon, a two-time All-Big East Conference selection for the Golden Eagles, was selected in the fourth round of January's MLS SuperDraft with the No. 75 overall pick. "I'm excited about signing Charlie Lyon. I think he's a good young goalkeeper with great potential. We're very pleased that he'll be with us for the season," Sounders coach Sigi Schmid said of Lyon, who set Marquette program records with 29 career shutouts and a 0.83 goals-against average. Lyon will be Seattle's third keeper, behind starter Stefan Frei and backup Troy Perkins, and likely will play for the club's new S2 team in USL. On Twitter: @Charlie_Lyon_