Niko Tsakiris, Preston Judd and Ousseni Bouda each scored a first-half goal as the visiting San Jose Earthquakes held on for a much-needed 3-2 victory over San Diego FC on Wednesday.
Tsakiris registered two assists and Beau Leroux added another for the Quakes (11-8-5, 38 points), who earned their first win in nine matches.
Anders Dreyer scored and was set up by Onni Valakari, while Cedric Bakambu converted a penalty kick for San Diego (8-10-6, 30 points).
San Jose’s first-half outburst started when Leroux played a long pass to Tsakiris, who took possession just in front of midfield. Tsakiris raced into a 2-on-2 situation, cut toward the middle and rifled a left-footed shot inside the back post in the third minute.
Still on the attack, San Jose doubled its lead in the 12th minute through Judd’s team-leading 12th goal. Sandwiched between two defenders, Judd controlled Tsakiris’ pass, pulled a diving CJ dos Santos off his line and rolled a shot past two San Diego defenders.
In the 35th minute, San Jose took a 3-0 lead when Tsakiris’ lead pass connected with Bouda for a header.
San Diego cut its deficit to 3-1 in the 42nd minute. Elias Achouri carried possession wide before sending a cross through traffic that Valakari flicked with his heel to Dreyer, whose shot kissed the post and went in.
Earlier, with the Quakes threatening in the seventh minute, dos Santos took down Judd inside the box, earning a penalty kick. Dos Santos was initially shown a red card, but the decision was changed to a yellow.
Tsakiris’ attempt from the spot a minute later was turned away by a diving dos Santos.
Later, dos Santos collided with Bouda well outside the box in the 80th minute, earning the San Diego goalkeeper his second yellow card and a sending-off.
On a San Diego restart in the second minute of second-half stoppage time, Max Floriani received his second yellow for a foul in the box and was sent off.
Bakambu converted the ensuing penalty in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time to pull San Diego within 3-2.
Moments later, San Jose goalkeeper Angus Gunn rose above the crowd to punch away Achouri’s shot.
–Field Level Media
