Mathieu Choiniere’s second-half brace lifted Los Angeles FC to a 2-0 victory over visiting St. Louis City SC on Saturday night.
Hugo Lloris made four saves for his fourth clean sheet as LAFC (4-0-0, 12 points) improved to 5-0-2 in seven all-time MLS matches against St. Louis.
Roman Burki made three saves for St. Louis (0-3-1, 1 point), which has gone three matches without a goal.
Choiniere put LAFC up 1-0 in the 73rd minute, putting his strike between the legs of a St. Louis defender and past a diving Burki.
The Canadian midfielder struck again eight minutes later, putting his curling, right-footed strike past an outstretched Burki.
Prior to Choiniere’s brace, St. Louis had a couple of glorious chances to get on the board.
In the 60th minute, off a LAFC turnover, Marcel Hartel put his right-footed strike over the bar.
Then, four minutes later, off a Hartel corner, Sergio Cordova’s header missed just right of the goal.
The two sides split the first half possession time, and each had a shot on target in a scoreless opening 45 minutes of action.
LAFC’s first quality chance came early as Denis Bouanga, in the area, sailed his strike over the bar in the opening minute.
St. Louis thought it opened the scoring in the 14th minute off a Hartel free kick, which found the back of the net, but a foul on Chris Durkin negated the goal.
Lloris delivered a key save in the 35th minute off Cedric Teuchert’s right-footed strike from just left of the goal.
With five minutes remaining in the opening 45, Nathan Ordaz hit the right post from the middle of the area.
Saturday was the first of two meetings between the clubs this season. LAFC visits St. Louis on May 13.
Both clubs return to MLS action next Saturday — LAFC visits Austin, while St. Louis entertains New England.
–Field Level Media
