LAFC defeated the San Jose Earthquakes Saturday night, 4-2, in front of 50,978 fans at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. Forward Son Heung-Min scored his second goal for LAFC since joining the Black & Gold a month ago from the English Premier League, and Denis Bouanga netted three goals to move into a tie with LAFC legend Carlos Vela atop the club’s all-time scoring list (93 goals across all competitions).
The win placed LAFC’s record at 12W-7L-8D in MLS play (44 points) and maintained its hold on fifth place in the Western Conference standings, just one point behind fourth-place Seattle. LAFC has seven games remaining in its 2025 regular-season schedule and holds a game in hand on the Sounders.
The scoring began less than a minute into Saturday’s match, when Son tapped in a cross from left back Artem Smoliakov following a through ball from Mark Delgado that the Ukrainian ran onto in the left channel before delivering to Son. Occurring just 53 seconds into the match, Son’s tally was the third-fastest goal in LAFC history, behind goals from Cristian Arango (0:20 vs. RSL on Sept. 12, 2021) and Mateusz Bogusz (0:32 vs. VAN on Oct. 23, 2024).
In the tenth minute, Bouanga forced a giveaway at the halfway line and dribbled alone and unimpeded at San Jose goalkeeper Daniel before slotting a right-footed shot past the Brazilian to make the score 2-0.
Less than three minutes later, Bouanga ran onto a lofted pass from right back Sergi Palencia and duplicated his tenth-minute goal – only this time Bouanga’s dribbling run came down the right wing instead of the left and was finished with a chip, making the score 3-0 before 12 minutes had elapsed.
Preston Judd pulled one back for the Quakes in the 18th minute, pouncing on a loose ball in the area and finishing inside the near post to pull the hosts to within 3-1, a score that held through halftime.
Bouanga completed his hat trick in the 87th minute, when Palencia won a long ball from center back Nkosi Tafari and squared it to Bouanga for a right-footed first-time finish, tying him with his former teammate Vela for first place among LAFC’s all-time goal scorers.
At the 90-minute mark, San Jose completed the evening’s scoring when a bicycle kick from Josef Martínez deflected off Palencia and past LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
LAFC is back in action on Wednesday, September 17, when the club visits Real Salt Lake in Sandy, Utah. That game is scheduled to kick off at 6:30 p.m. PT and can be seen live on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, with radio coverage available on 710 AM ESPN, the ESPN LA app, 980 AM La Mera Mera (Spanish), and KYPA 1230 AM (Korean).
NOTES
- Bouanga’s hat trick was his second in 11 days. He scored three goals for Gabon against Seychelles on Sept. 3 in a World Cup qualifying match in Africa. His hat trick Saturday night in San Jose was his third in MLS play since he joined LAFC in August 2022, and his fifth hat trick in an LAFC shirt across all competitions.
- Bouanga has now tallied 93 goals across all competitions for LAFC in 143 matches, besting the pace of longtime captain Vela, who announced his retirement earlier this year and whose 93 goals came over 186 appearances in black and gold.
- Bouanga’s 18 goals in MLS play this season rank third in the Golden Boot race as of Saturday night, behind Nashville’s Sam Surridge (21) and Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi (19). With two more goals, Bouanga would become the first player in MLS history to record three straight 20-goal seasons.
- Mark Delgado was credited with an assist on Son’s goal, giving him a team-high eight on the season.
- Palencia’s two assists were his third and fourth assists of the season—good for fourth place on the team behind Delgado (8), Bouanga (7), and Nathan Ordaz (5).
- LAFC is now 4W-3L-6D on the road in MLS play in 2025 and is unbeaten in its last eight MLS road matches (3W-0L-5D). LAFC’s last league loss away from BMO Stadium came on April 5 in Houston.
- Saturday’s win was LAFC’s first ever at Levi’s Stadium, whose attendance Saturday night (50,978) marked a new regular-season MLS record for the Quakes. San Jose had never lost at Levi’s Stadium (home of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers) prior to Saturday’s defeat, going 4W-0L-2D there, with two of those wins coming against LAFC.
- Irish international Andy Moran made his MLS and LAFC debut on Saturday. The midfielder/winger came on in the 72nd minute for Timmy Tillman.
