The San Jose Earthquakes Jackson Yueill is the Man of the Match after the Quakes defeated the DC United at Pay Pal Park in Washington DC on Sat May 1, 2021 (@SJEarthquakes photo)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif–The San Jose Earthquakes scored three goals in the first half en route to a dominating 4-1 victory over DC United on Saturday evening at Pay Pal Park.

San Jose has won two games in a row after dropping its opening match to Houston and are undefeated at home after two games. DC United has lost two in a row after winning its opener against New York City FC.

The Quakes (2-1-0) drew first blood in the opening minute of the match. Cade Cowell received a long ball along the left side. He dribbled out to the middle of the pitch before finding Javier Eduardo López, affectionally known as Chofis. The Mexican national played the ball with one touch before bending in a left footed shot into the lower left corner of the net past DC United goalie Chris Seitz for his first career MLS goal.

Chofis came to the Quakes on loan from Chivas Guadalajara back on January 20th. His combo of speed and skill is what head coach Matias Almedya has been looking for to anchor his midfield. Chofis drew a yellow card on DC United’s Tony Alvaro in the 18th minute after slipping past him with the ball along the right sideline forcing Alvaro to trip him up.

The Quakes doubled its lead in the 26th minute when Cristian Espinoza sent a deep ball down the right sideline over to Cowell that sprung a fast break. The sophomore sensation outraced Frédéric Brillant to the ball and dribbled in before he drilled a right footed shot rom the right side of the box to the bottom right corner of the net past Seitz for his second goal of the season.

Cowell has scored and goal an assist in back-to-back games for San Jose. He became the sixth youngest player in MLS history to achieve that feat last week against FC Dallas.

DC United (1-2-0) cut the lead in half at the 31st minute off a set piece. Edison Flores centered a corner kick out to Brendan Hines-Ike who headed the ball back into the middle of the box. Quakes goalie JT Marcinkowski batted the ball away but Yamil Asad tapped it over to Alvaro, who slammed home the ball into the upper right corner for his first goal of the season.

San Jose kept the pressure on in the last 13 minutes of the first half. Seitz made a tough save on a shot by Paul Marie in the 34th minute. Espinoza had a great scoring chance in the 42nd minute when he dribbled around Seitz and looked to put the ball into an empty net. However, Moses Nyeman came back and swept away the ball for a corner kick,

In that ensuring corner for San Jose, Carlos Fierro centered a ball from the right that deflected off of the foot of Tanner Beason inside the box. The ball popped up high into the air where Jackson Yueill falling down, blasted the ball out of the air into the center of the net for his first goal of the season in the 43rd minute.

Yueill was the acting captain for San Jose during the match as Chris Wondolowski served a one-game suspension for receiving a red card last week against FC Dallas.

San Jose had six shots on goal compared to four for DC United in the first half. They also won the possession battle 55%-45%.

DC United came out in the second half and controlled the majority of play. Some sloppy passing by San Jose in the beginning led to four scoring chances in the first 22 minutes for the visiting team.

A bad turnover by Marcinkowski just outside the box in the 84th minute led to an open net opportunity for Erik Sorga from the center of the box but Florian Jungwirth chased down the ball down and kept it from crossing the goal line as he cleared it away from danger.

The Quakes put the game away a minute later after Jungwirth’s block. Cowell received the ball down the right wing and dribbled inside the box where he chipped a cross over to Yueill who headed the ball off of Seitz into the back of the net for his second goal of the match in the 85th minute.

Cowell finished the match with three points (G, 2A) and has five points overall in his past two games.

Marcinkowski finished the evening making six saves on seven shots to earn the victory. Seitz made five saves on nine shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose had four corner kicks. DC United had five.

Marie, Chofis and Eric Remedi received yellow cards for San Jose. Nyeman also received a yellow card for DC United.

UP NEXT: The Earthquakes head out on the road to take on Real Salt Lake on Friday 5/7 at 6:30pm at Rio Tinto Stadium.