The San Jose Earthquakes Starting XI posed for a group shot just before kickoff in their match against the Houston Dynamo at PayPal Park on Saturday MAY 24, 2025. (San Jose Earthquakes)

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — In a match that saw fireworks in the second half in terms of goals scored, the San Jose Earthquakes drew 3-3 with the Houston Dynamo on Saturday evening at PayPal Park.

San Jose is unbeaten in its past seven overall matches (4-0-3), including five in MLS play. Houston is winless in their past three matches but earned a point after two straight defeats.

San Jose (5-6-5) had two quality chances early in the first half by Josef Martinez. First in the seventh minute, Martinez’s attempt from 10 yards out was stopped by Dynamo goalkeeper Jonanthan Bond. Then in the 20th minute, Martinez’s point-blank chance from inside the box was knocked away with a two-handed save by Bond.

Houston (4-6-6) drew first blood in the 31st minute. Ondřej Lingr’s counterattack found Griffin Dorsey down the right wing. Dorsey crossed the ball in the box where Ezequiel Ponce headed the ball into the far corner of the net past Quakes goalkeeper Earl Edwards Jr. for his team’s leading fourth goal of the season.

The Dynamo doubled its lead seconds after a corner kick in the 50th minute. Lingr centered the ball from the right wing over to the back post. An unmarked Felipe Andrade tapped home the ball into an open net for his second goal of the season.

The game seemed to have been judged one-sided to the benefit of the Dynamo from referee Sergii Demianchuk who missed some obvious fouls committed by the Dynamo throughout the match.

“I give our players a lot of credit for coming back down from two goals and basically have the game won at the end,” said Quakes head coach Bruce Arena. “We didn’t manage the game very well at the end….I think we could have done better on all the goals. We could have scored more goals. We should have come in at halftime ahead. We had some very good chances. We just have to be a little bit cleaner.”

San Jose cut the deficit in half in the 66th minute. Beau Leroux got the ball down low to DeJuan Jones near the right goal line. Jones centered the ball to Preston Judd who one-timed the ball past Bond with a right-footed shot for his first goal of the season.

Judd recorded his brace in the 72nd minute. Fullback Ian Harkes centered the ball squarely into the box where Judd got behind two Dynamo defenders and headed the ball over Bond into the upper left corner of the net for the equalizer and second goal of the season.

“Josef (Martínez) helped me out there because they paid a lot of attention to him, so I was able to get on their back shoulders, and they didn’t know where I was at, so I took advantage of that and finished those chances when I got them,” Judd said.

The Earthquakes gained its first lead of the match four minutes later. Once again it was Harkes setting up the goal. After a Cristian Espinoza corner kick, Harkes gathered the ball along the left side line. The Quakes fullback deked out a Houston defender before centering the ball into the middle of the box. An unmarked Daniel Munie made a diving header into the far corner of the net for his first career MLS goal in the 76th minute.

Houston scored the equalizer in the first minute of stoppage time on a fluke goal. Jack McGlynn had the ball just outside the box. McGlynn found Franco Escobar along the right wing. Escobar made a quick back pass to Dorsey whose right-footed shot deflected off of Dave Romey and into the back of the net for his second goal of the season.

Bond finished the match with five saves on eight shots on target and was mainly responsible for Houston earning a point in the contest. Edwards Jr. did not record a save on the three shots on target.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished the match with 11 corner kicks. Houston had seven.

The Earthquakes are currently 10-19-5 all-time vs. Houston Dynamo FC with an 8-6-4 home record.

Heading into tonight, the Quakes’ attack led all MLS with 29 goals. To celebrate, the club gave away 2,900 hot dogs to fans before the match. With another three goals tonight, the Quakes stayed atop the league leaderboard with 32 goals and 34.13 expected goals. 

Judd scored his fifth and sixth goals of his career. Combined with his goal and assist in Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup play, he’s up to four goal contributions in all competitions (2g/2a).

DeJuan Jones, recently called up to the U.S. Men’s National Team for June training camp ahead of the Concacaf Gold Cup, amassed his fourth assist of the season and 26th of his MLS career.

The Quakes stayed unbeaten (3-0-3) in all games started by recent acquisition DeJuan Jones, who joined the team via trade with the Columbus Crew last month.

Ian Harkes had his first two assists of the MLS season tonight, running his career total to eight. He also had a goal vs. Inter Miami in his last league outing, giving him three goal contributions in his last two matches.

Edwards Jr.’s shutout streak in all competitions ended at 197 minutes after conceding Ezequiel Ponce’s 31st-minute goal.

Luca Ulrich, acquired via short-term loan earlier today from the Quakes’ MLS NEXT Pro team, The Town FC, was an unused substitute backing up Earl Edwards Jr. at goalkeeper.

UP NEXT: San Jose travels down south to take on their SoCal rival Los Angeles Galaxy on Wednesday May 28th at 7:00pm at Dignity Health Sports Park