Photo credit: @PaloaPalo3

By Pearl Allison Lo

CARSON, Calif. — Danny Hoesen jumped off the bench with his second substitute goal in as many games, as the Earthquakes won the California Clasico series 2-0 versus the Los Angeles Galaxy at Dignity Health Tennis Center Friday night.

Hoesen made his minutes count. After teammate Vako broke through former San Jose goalie David Bingham three minutes earlier, Hoesen made sure that would not be all. At the speed of pinball, Vako started off the play kicking to Hoesen, who came in two minutes earlier, to Bingham and into the net in the 64th minute. Last game, Hoesen scored in the 93rd minute to lead his team to victory. 

With the win, San Jose jumped to fourth place in the Western Conference, three points behind the Galaxy. It was the Earthquakes’ first visit to  Dignity Health Sports Park since it was renamed from StubHub Center. Last matchup between the teams, San Jose also won with three goals.

The Quakes’ 32 shots were a season-high and the most ever in a road game for them.

Magnus Eriksson had a game-high six chances created, 88 touches and 69 total passes, but pointed out, “We need to stay humble, because we know what happened last season, and it was tough…if we start being cocky about our way of playing, I think we can go straight down…stay united as a team and if we do that, we will continue taking victories. We’re nothing without that…”  

It was a tale of two halves for Bingham and the two teams in terms of scoring. Bingham stood tall in the first, despite San Jose outshooting Los Angeles 12-2. He even made a season-high seven saves throughout the game before the Quakes started scoring. 

The scoring in the opening half was based on corners. Both of the Galaxy’s shots came off them. San Jose had 10 corners, two of them sandwiched an attempt by Espinoza in the 19th minute. 

The Quakes fell behind early. The Quakes’ Tommy Thompson just got the ball out of the way in front of the net in the 2nd minute before Uriel Antuna could get to it. However, it resulted in a successful corner by Jonathan dos Santos the same minute. The ball landed right on Rolf Feltscher’s left foot as he kicked the ball in goal for the early lead. 

San Jose’s Cristian Espinoza went flying which earned him a free kick in the 5th minute. On the other end, Thompson earned a yellow card when he grabbed his opponent by his jersey when he went by. 

Vako just missed with the first shot in the 12th minute. That same minute Chris Wondolowski tried too, but it went into the hands of Bingham. 

In the 23rd minute, the teams almost almost repeated the games’ 2nd minute. Antuna was veering into wide open territory but, Guram Kashia pushed the ball away for another corner. This corner did not result in a goal though, but Daniel Vega was forced to reach for the crossbar as he was able to tip the ball away.  

Frustration was evident in the 48th minute after Wondolowski ended up with a chance at an empty net in the 48th minute. 

The Quakes’ finally broke through though in the 61st minute with patience and continued attack. Vako was the scorer with an almost straightaway shot that found the bottom left corner. 

Los Angeles had three shots after, two in the 70th minute (blocked and missed). San Jose had seven before scoring again, six of them on target, including two in the 77th, one in the 78th and two in the 79th. 

The Quakes’ persistence paid off once again in the 85th minute. Bingham was able to block Vako’s initial shot but the rebound went straight to Jackson Yueill, off Bingham’s fingers and into the net. 

Up Next: San Jose’s shots in the first were evened out with four apiece on target, off target and blocked. The Quakes now set their sights on the Vancouver Whitecaps Saturday July 20 at 7 pm to close out their road trip.