Own goal sets tone as Chivas USA loses to Seattle, 3-1

Chivas USA ended its abysmal season fashionably Saturday against Seattle, losing a laugher, 3-1, before a crowd of 22,137 at the Home Depot Center.

Chivas fell behind, 1-0, in the 53rd minute when defender Andrew Boyens’ put in an own goal while trying to clear the ball from in front of the net.

That goal typified the season for Chivas (8-14-12), which will watch the MLS playoffs on television, again.

“This team, we’ve shot ourselves in the foot so many times,” said first-year Chivas Coach Robin Fraser.

Seattle (18-7-9) added two more goals, just for kicks, or laughs.

In the 69th minute, Seattle midfielder Alvaro Fernandez booted it to the far post, and in the 73rd, Sounders forward Sammy Ochoa headed in another.

Apparently, karma does exist.

Legendary goalkeeper Kasey Keller, who’s retiring after the season, had a shutout going in his final regular-season game until the 83rd minute, when Chivas forward Victor Estupinan scored a short-range goal.

Chivas USA finished last in the MLS Western Conference last season, and expectations were subterranean entering this one.

The team lived up to them, winning only eight games for the second season in a row.

Fraser blamed inconsistency.

“I just think at the end of the day the teams that are able to focus and concentrate for 90 minutes are going to make less mistakes,” he said. “I think we’ve had too many players make too many mistakes at critical times.”

Chivas was close, at times: Thirteen of the team’s 14 losses were by one goal.

There was a point in which the team was looking good, actually — Aug. 6.

That’s when Chivas wrapped up a 3-2 road win against New England, giving it a 7-8-8 record and momentum for a playoff run.

But it failed to win its next seven matches.

Fraser said he’s learned you can’t come into the season with an idea before you know what you know what kind of players you have.

Still, things didn’t go as Fraser planned or hoped, as he said after practice Friday.

“We talked about being a team that is a thinking team and that is able to solve problems on the field and be able to move up the field that way,” Fraser said.

At times the team did that ... but those times were few.

“If you make enough mistakes, you’re going to lose enough games,” Fraser said Saturday.

Chivas certainly did.

baxter.holmes@latimes.com

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