LAFC collected its second straight league win with a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes. Cristian Arango and Ryan Hollingshead each scored first half goals for the home side before Brian Rodriguez scored the eventual game-winner early in the second half. With the win, LAFC is now 9-3-2 on the season for a league-best 29 points.
The Black & Gold will be back in action three weeks from today on Saturday, June 18 when they travel north to face Seattle Sounders FC. That game will kick off at 12 p.m. PT and will be broadcast nationally on ABC and ESPN Deportes. It will also be available locally on the radio on ESPN 710 AM, ESPN LA App, and 980 AM La Mera La Mera.
NEWS & NOTES:
- With the win, LAFC is now 5-1-2 at home this season for 17 of the club’s MLS-best 29 points.
- LAFC is now 7-4-0 all-time against San Jose in MLS play, including 5-1-0 at Banc of California Stadium.
- Prior to today’s game, LAFC had not scored more than one goal in the first half of eight consecutive MLS games. The club is now 4-0-0 when scoring multiple first half goals.
- LAFC is now 9-0-1 in MLS play this season when scoring multiple goals, and 5-0-0 when scoring three or more goals.
- Cristian Arango scored his third goal of the season in the 7th minute. That was the fastest goal scored by the club this season.
- Arango’s goal came via a penalty kick. He is now 6-for-6 all-time on penalties for LAFC.
- Ryan Hollingshead, who was fouled to set up the Arango penalty kick, doubled LAFC’s lead in the 13th minute. That was his fourth goal of the season. No defender has more goals in the league this season.
- Hollingshead set a career-high for goals in 2019 when he scored six in 34 games. This season he has four goals in 11 games.
- Brian Rodriguez was credited with an assist on Hollingshead’s goal. That was his second assist of the season and first since March 6.
- Rodriguez scored the eventual game-winning goal just two minutes into the second half. That was his second goal of the season and first since April 2 against Orlando City. That was also the last time that Rodriguez had started a league game.
- This was just the second time in his LAFC career that Rodriguez has registered a goal and an assist in the same game. The last time he did so was on November 7, 2021 in the final game of that season.
- Rodriguez now has 8 goals and 11 assists in 50 regular season games since debuting for the club in August 2019.
- LAFC earned the win despite playing without Franco Escobar, Diego Palacios, Ismael Tajouri-Shradi and Carlos Vela who all missed the game through injury, as well as Jesus Murillo, who was suspended for yellow card accumulation.
- Kellyn Acosta made the 210th appearance of his MLS career in the game. He is one of five LAFC players, along with Cristian Arango, Jose Cifuentes, Mahala Opoku and Ilie Sanchez to appear in all 14 of the club’s league games this year.
WHAT:
LAFC defeats San Jose 3-2 to stay atop the MLS standings.
