Preston Judd scored his 14th and 15th goals of the season before halftime to help the surging San Jose Earthquakes to a 3-1 victory over the visiting Portland Timbers on Saturday night.
Eduard Lowen scored his first goal and added his first two assists as San Jose (13-8-6, 45 points) extended its unbeaten run to six (3-0-3) and vaulted above Houston and St. Louis into third place in the Western Conference.
Earl Edwards Jr. made seven saves while deputizing for San Jose goalkeeper Angus Gunn, who was on international duty with Scotland.
The Quakes’ Timo Werner played 67 minutes in his first start since Aug. 22 after returning from a lower-body injury last week as a substitute.
David da Costa pulled a late goal back as the Timbers (9-13-5, 32 points) fell to 10th in the West, three points beneath ninth-place Seattle and the playoff line.
Portland led 19-14 in shots and matched San Jose with eight efforts on target, though that owed partly to San Jose protecting the three-goal lead it built in the opening half-hour.
Judd had entered as a substitute in four of his previous six appearances, but needed only four minutes to reward manager Bruce Arena for reinserting him into the starting lineup.
Daniel Munie won the ball back about 35 yards away from Portland’s goal and quickly found Lowen to his right. Lowen took a touch forward before lofting a right-footed diagonal ball from beyond the corner of the penalty area. And Judd outmuscled Ronald Hernandez before looping a header over goalkeeper James Pantemis from about 8 yards out.
Lowen doubled San Jose’s lead in the 24th minute after reaching Beau Le Roux’s feed into the box and finishing from a tight angle between Pantemis and his near post.
Judd scored his second five minutes later on arguably the Quakes’ best sequence of the night.
This time Lowen played Paul Marie into the right side of the box. Marie collected himself before sending a left-footed cross to the edge of the 6-yard box. And Judd backpedaled to evade his marker, then met the cross with a firm right-footed volley across Pantemis’ body.
–Field Level Media
