Anders Dreyer scored a goal and Carlos Dos Santos made four saves as Western Conference-leading San Diego FC tied the MLS record for points by an expansion team with a 1-1 draw at Atlanta United on Saturday afternoon.
The tie snapped a seven-game road winning streak for San Diego (17-8-6, 57 points) in league play, which increased its first-place lead to three points over Minnesota United. San Diego, which fell three points behind the Philadelphia Union (18-7-6, 60 points) in the race for the Supporters’ Shield, tied the MLS expansion record of 57 points set by Los Angeles FC in 2018.
Miguel Almiron scored on a penalty kick and Jayden Hibbert finished with three saves for Atlanta United (5-13-12, 27 points).
Atlanta, which allowed five goals in the first 39 minutes a week earlier in a 5-4 home loss to the Columbus Crew, held San Diego without a shot attempt until the 30th minute when Hirving Lozano blasted a right-footed shot from outside the penalty box just wide of the left post.
San Diego then took a 1-0 lead two minutes later on Dreyer’s 15th goal. Lozano set up the score when he stole the ball from midfielder Steven Alzate by the left edge of the box and crossed a pass to Dreyer cutting down the middle. Dreyer then drilled a left-footed shot into the bottom right corner of the net for his league-leading 33rd goal contribution of the season.
Atlanta nearly tied it just before halftime when Almiron, who had an earlier score wiped off by an offside ruling, headed a shot toward the middle of the net that defender Paddy McNair cleared at the goal line.
The Five Stripes tied it in the 61st minute on Almiron’s left-footed penalty shot into the bottom left corner after Dos Santos tripped Jamal Thiare on the edge of the six-yard box. The goal came just four minutes after Almiron rattled the crossbar with a left-footed shot from the edge of the box.
San Diego had a chance to win it in the 78th minute, but Hibbert swatted away Lozano’s header from the left edge of the six-yard box.
–Field Level Media
