Dayne St. Clair made 12 saves and Nectarios Triantis had a goal and an assist in his MLS debut as second-place Minnesota United closed to within two points of Western Conference-leading San Diego FC by beating them 3-1 on Saturday night.
Anthony Markanich and Carlos Harvey also scored goals for Minnesota United (15-6-9, 54 points), which extended its road unbeaten streak to eight games (5-0-3) despite being outshot, 28-6.
Jeppe Tbverskov broke up St. Clair’s shutout bid with a header in the 95th minute and Carlos Dos Santos finished with two saves for San Diego (17-8-5, 56 points).
San Diego dominated a scoreless opening half, finishing with a 12-1 edge in shot attempts, including 6-0 shots on goal, while controlling possession for 69 percent of the action.
St. Clair, who was away on international duty with Canada for the first meeting between the two clubs (a 4-2 victory by San Diego in Saint Paul, Minn., on June 14), was spectacular, making six saves, including four grade-A chances from the right edge of the six-yard box, three of them by reigning MLS Player of the Month Anders Dreyer.
Minnesota didn’t manage its first shot on goal until the 55th minute when Dos Santos turned away a header by Harvey from the right side of the box off a Kelvin Yeboah pass.
San Diego had another excellent scoring chance in the 61st minute when Dreyer hit Amahl Pellegrino alone in the middle of the box, but St. Clair batted away his right-footed try.
Markanich gave the Loons a 1-0 lead in the 74th minute with a header by the far left post off a Joaquin Pereyra corner cross for his seventh goal. San Diego had a 22-1 advantage in shot attempts at the time of the score.
Three minutes later, Harvey made it 2-0, taking a pass from Triantis on the right side of the box then blasting a left-footed shot inside the far left post.
Triantis sealed the win in the 92nd minute when he looped a shot from midfield over Dos Santos, who had left his line.
–Field Level Media
