Summer signings Ezequiel Ponce and Lawrence Ennali each scored their first MLS goals and the Houston Dynamo completed an impressive 2-0 upset at defending Western Conference champion LAFC on Saturday night.
Ponce opened the scoring midway through the opening half for Houston (11-8-7, 37 points), which has won five of its past eight in league play and three consecutive regular-season meetings against LAFC (14-6-5, 47 points) dating back to June 2023.
Ennali then added his goal moments after his entrance as a second-half substitute to seal a result that earned the Dynamo some measure of revenge for a 2-0 defeat to the Black-and-Gold in last year’s Western Conference final.
Steve Clark made all six of his saves to keep his sixth clean sheet for Houston, which is seventh in the Western Conference.
Clark’s counterpart Hugo Lloris made four stops for LAFC, including two exceptional first-half saves to keep his side in it. But the Black-and-Gold suffered their first defeat in MLS play to a team other than the Columbus Crew since a 3-1 loss at San Jose on May 4, and remained five points back of Western Conference-leading LA Galaxy.
Ponce joined Houston for a club-record transfer fee — reportedly approximately $8 million — from AEK Athens in June and scored once during Houston’s run to the round-of-16 in the Leagues Cup.
He scored his first MLS goal in the 28th minute during a scramble that resulted after a free kick driven into the box.
Erik Sviatchenko provided the pass that found Ponce near the left side of the 6-yard area, and Ponce instinctively guided his first-touch effort into the bottom near corner to beat Lloris scrambling across his line.
Ennali entered in the 70th minute. He doubled Houston’s lead two minutes later when he outran his defender to reach Franco Escobar’s through ball, then cut inside a retreating center back, rounded Lloris and finished into an open net.
–Field Level Media
