San Jose Earthquakes forward Preston Judd celebrates his second goal of the match against the Portland Timbers among the fans at PayPal Park on Saturday SEP 26, 2026 (San Jose Earthquakes)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — Preston Judd is becoming a scoring machine for the San Jose Earthquakes at the right time of the year.

Judd scored two goals in the first half as San Jose dominated the Portland Timbers in a convincing 3-1 victory on Saturday evening at PayPal Park.

San Jose has won two of its past three matches which includes a six-match point streak. Portland has lost three matches in a row.

San Jose (13-8-6-45 points) drew first blood early in the match. In the fourth minute, Eduard Lowen chipped over a high cross from right to left over to Judd inside the box. Judd headed over the outstretched reach of Timbers goalkeeper James Pantemis for his team leading 14th goal of the season. Daniel Munie received a secondary assist, his fifth of the season.

For Lowen it was his first helper in a Quakes kit and first goal contribution.

Portland (9-13-5-32) created the next three scoring chances in the 11th, 12th and 13th minutes. Quakes goalkeeper Earl Edwards Jr. denied all three chances with saves on shots by Ariel Lassiter, Kristoffer Velde and Vincent Janssen.

The Earthquakes doubled its lead in the 24th minute with Lowen scoring his first goal in a Quakes kit. A nice give and go between Beau Leroux and Timo Werner led to Leroux finding Lowen inside the box. Lowen dribbled down to the end line before roofing a shot into the middle of the net for his fourth overall goal of the season.

Judd recorded his brace five minutes later in the 29th minute. Paul Marie received the ball inside the box. He pirouetted around before sending a quick cross into the middle where Judd propped up his leg and knocked the ball out of mid-air past Pantemis for his 15th goal of the season. Lowen was on all three goal contributions with the secondary assist.

Judd has recorded a brace in back-to-back games.

Portland broke through the seal in the 86th minute to spoil Gunn’s clean sheet. Eric Izoita found David Da Costa down low on the right side of the box. Da Costa made a move around a Quakes defender before depositing the ball into the back of the net for his fourth goal of the season.

Edwards Jr. finished the match stopping seven out of eight shots on target to earn the victory. Pantemis made five saves on eight shots on target in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished with five corner kicks. Portland had nine.

Tonight’s match was scheduled to be the 9,000th match in the history of MLS, the New York Red Bulls-St. Louis CITY match that was scheduled earlier in the day was postponed due to inclement weather. Instead, it was the 8,999th match.

UP NEXT: San Jose travels out to the Rockies to take on the Colorado Rapids on Saturday October 10 at 6:30pm at DICK’s Sporting Goods Park.