~ Photo credit: San Jose Earthquakes

~By Pearl Allison Lo

~ CARSON– San Jose ended their six game losing streak on the road with a 2-0 shutout over Los Angeles Sunday in the 2017 finale of the California Clasico.

It was head coach Chris Leitch’s first road win with the team as Andrew Tarbell also got his first MLS shutout, as he made three saves. Two of them came 31 seconds apart.

What made this game different, “today we had just the mentality that we weren’t going to let any obstacle set us back. We were going to overcome this thing…a bigger desire to win,” replied Quakes’ Shea Salinas.

San Jose’s Chris Wondolowski now has the league record for most goals on the road. He was also called to the U.S. National Team today.

With an announced crowd of 19, 237, meanwhile, the Galaxy continued a 10-game winless streak overall and at home.

Pele van Anholt had to leave in the first half due to a right knee injury and Los Angeles went down a man in the second half due to a red card.

The Galaxy started off with the shots, but they were all off target. The Quakes’ Tommy Thompson intercepted a pass on one side of the field and sent it forward to Marco Urena with only goalie Jon Kempin before him, but Urena shot the ball wide in the 8th minute.

The game’s first shot on goal went to Vako in the 15th minute followed by the game’s first blocked shot in the 16th.

Before Urena’s shot, which was on goal this time, he had a collision with van Anholt, who had to be carried off in a stretcher in the 26th minute.

Los Angeles’ first shot on goal came in the 38th minute.

Galaxy newcomer Jonathan dos Santos nearly had a goal in the 45th minute when he hit the crossbar.

Two minutes of stoppage time were just what San Jose needed as Salinas’ corner sailed over several players’ heads and bounced to Vako. Vako made a swift left kick and the ball went over Kempin for a 1-0 lead. It was Vako’s second goal in three games.

Los Angeles got a chance to recover from the break when Joao Pedro was awarded a penalty kick. However, video review called it off.

Chances got even dimmer when Nathan Smith, who came in for van Anholt, was given a red card. Smith was the only one with 100% accuracy for in the first half.

Less than a minute after entering in the 71st minute, the Quakes’ Danny Hoesen had an attempt on net.

In the 80th minute, Urena’s goal trickled in for San Jose’s second goal after he and the ball passed a sliding Kempin, who came off his line. Jackson Yueill got his first MLS assist. On how he felt, Yueill responded, “It was awesome. It was a great team win, and the assist was just a bonus…excited that Marco made a great run and I saw him.”

Urena, who had a game-high six shots, had his game-high fourth shot on target in the 91st minute.

Wondolowski capped the scoring with his 92nd minute goal.

Game notes: Post game, the LA Galaxy Special Olympics Unified team won 4-0 over the Earthquakes’ side. San Jose completes their long three-game road trip Saturday against Toronto FC at 2pm.