Cristian Espinoza scored the game-winner in the 66th minute as the San Jose Earthquakes rallied from a two-goal deficit in the first half to defeat the Colorado Rapids 3-2 on Saturday night in Commerce City, Colo.
Espinoza broke in behind the Rapids defense on the right side of the box and booted a right-footed shot past Colorado goalie Zack Steffen and inside the far post for his second goal of the season.
Amahl Pellegrino and Hernan Lopez also scored goals and Vitor Costa de Brito had two assists, including one on Espinoza’s game-winner, for San Jose (3-8-1, 10 points), which picked up its first win at Colorado since 2013.
William Yarbrough made four saves for the Earthquakes, who also garnered their first road victory of the season (1-5-1).
Rafael Navarro and Omir Fernandez scored for Colorado (5-4-3, 18 points), which took just its second loss in its last seven matches (4-2-1).
An entertaining up-and-down first half ended in a 2-2 tie and also featured two more goals disallowed for being offside.
Colorado took a 1-0 lead in the 33rd minute on Navarro’s team-leading sixth goal of the season, chipping in a right-footed shot in the middle of the six-yard box off a Djordje Mihailovic corner kick.
Fernandez, who had a goal in the 26th minute wiped off the board following a lengthy video review for offside, made it 2-0 in the 42nd minute with his first goal on a right-footed shot from outside the box through traffic and inside the left post.
San Jose cut the lead to 2-1 just two minutes later when Pellegrino drilled in a right-footed rebound of a Jeremy Ebobisse shot that had been blocked into the middle of the box.
A Navarro goal on a header was also negated for offsides four minutes into first-half stoppage time. Two minutes later, Lopez, making his first MLS start, tied it at 2-2 with a left-footed shot from the middle of the box inside the right post.
Colorado’s best scoring chance after Espinoza gave San Jose the lead in the second-half came in the third minute of stoppage time when Navarro snapped a header near the right post that Yarbrough grabbed.
–Field Level Media
