Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By: Alexandra Evans

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Earthquakes faced the second-ranked, Eastern Conference playoff-bound New York Red Bulls at home on October 6, crossing their fingers for a win. The Quakes have not prevailed in over a month.

New York picked up the first netter in the 29th minute when the ball slipped out of San Jose goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski’s hands, allowing Alex Muyl to take a shot from the left side, six yards outside the goal line.

And then they did it again three minutes later. The ball bounced off of San Jose’s right goal post (from the goalkeeper’s perspective) and redirected to the right. This phenomenon allowed New York’s Bradley Wright-Phillips to “rebound” the ball and kick it in toward the bottom of the left corner.

At halftime, the Quakes were down 2-0, which was a reflection of their performance over the month of September and a foreshadowing of the remainder of the match.

One-ninth of the way into the second half, at the 50th minute, Aaron Long bumped a header and put up another point for the Red Bulls. Danny Hoesen, eventually caught offside, attempted a shot at the 54th minute from outside the left of the Red Bulls’ defensive zone, which was immediately caught by goalkeeper Luis Robles. This prompted head coach Steve Ralston to substitute Vako for captain Chris Wondolowski (marking his 32nd appearance).

Wondo made his first scoring attempt upon entry at the 70th minute, when his shot from the center of the box was blocked. 13 minutes later, however, Wondolowski received a punt from Florian Jungwirth at the 83rd minute. His header from the right side of the goalpost earned him his 144th career goal, just one shy of former Earthquake Landon Donovan who holds the record for most career goals in MLS history.

The Quakes trailed 3-1, which was the final score at Avaya Stadium.

The San Jose Earthquakes are back at Avaya Stadium on Saturday, October 13 to face Cruz Azul at 5:15 PM PST.