San Diego FC defeated Austin FC by a score of 2-0 Saturday night, improving its position as one of the top teams in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference.
Both San Diego goals came relatively late in the game at Snapdragon Stadium, with midfielder Luca de la Torre, a San Diego native, striking first for San Diego.
During the 60th minute, he connected with a right-footed shot from the center of the goal to the top right corner of the net. His teammate, star Hirving “Chucky” Lozano, picked up the assist.
Lozano, however, left the match with what’s believed to be a left hamstring injury during the 64th minute. He injured the same hamstring during the club’s home opener on March 1 and wound up missing three games.
During the 92nd minute, SDFC forward Milan Iloski, an Escondido native who played college soccer at UCLA, scored via a right-footed shot from the center of the net to the goal’s bottom left corner. Danish right winger Anders Dreyer picked up the assist.
“This is my city and I love it a lot,” super-substitute Iloski said during the post-match press conference. “I was brought here to score goals and I want to score a lot.”
SDFC Midfielder Luca De La Torre scores the first goal against Austin FC. (Photo by Chris Stone/Times of San Diego)With the victory, San Diego’s record improves to 9-5-3, with 30 points, good for second place in the conference behind the Vancouver Whitecaps (9-1-5, 32 points).
At the same time, SDFC forced their conference rival further down the standings, as Austin fell to 10th place, with a record of 5-7-5 and 20 points.
The score was 0-0 at the half, but San Diego pushed and pushed until finally managing to break through in the scoring column.
“We’re relentless,” SDFC head coach Mikey Varas said. “We push every single game we’ve been in.”
This was SDFC’s first home match since the ugly violence that erupted in the aftermath of the expansion side’s first-ever contest against the L.A. Galaxy at Snapdragon.
None of the ugly skirmishes that marred last week’s win were visible in the stands Saturday during the game or in the immediate aftermath.
SDFC striker Milan Iloski celebrates after scoring the club’s second goal. (Photo by Chris Stone/Times of San Diego)Some members of the club’s Supporters Section of hardcore fans were reportedly among the 33 soccer fans banned indefinitely from MLS games following the incident. The section featured noticeably fewer flags waving from the seats against Austin.
This was the third match in eight days for San Diego, following the home win against the Galaxy on May 24 and a road loss against the Seattle Sounders on Wednesday.
San Diego played a total of six matches in the month of May, going 5-1-1, an objectively outstanding result for a franchise that played its first match in late February.
Iloski and de la Torre weren’t the only San Diego County natives who played a role in the contest. The match was a homecoming for Austin’s Brandon Vasquez.
The forward, who grew up in Chula Vista and played pro soccer in Tijuana, started for Austin, but did not have much of an impact, primarily due to being well defended by the home club.
Prior to Saturday’s matchup, Austin FC had posted four straight draws. Against San Diego, Austin was without two of its more important players, Besard Sabovic and Ilie Sánchez, who were suspended due to accumulating five yellow cards so far this season. They each received a one-game ban as a result.
Next up, SDFC faces Liga MX’s Club America in a friendly at Snapdragon on June 7.
San Diego then has three consecutive road matches the rest of the month: June 14 at Minnesota, June 25 at Vancouver and June 28 at Dallas.
Notes: On Thursday, San Diego announced that it signed starting goalkeeper C.J. Dos Santos to a contract extension through the 2027 season, with an option for 2028. SDFC acquired the 24-year-old Dos Santos in December from MLS club Inter Miami CF. During his tenure, opponents have failed to score against SDFC in seven of 17 games, including Saturday’s match. In March alone, SDFC held four opponents scoreless.
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