CARSON, Calif. (AP) — Rookie Joseph Paintsil had a goal and an assist as the Los Angeles Galaxy scored three times in the first 30 minutes before holding on for a 4-3 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday night.
The Galaxy (5-1-3) took a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute when debutant Gabriel Pec capitalized on assists from Dejan Joveljic and Riqui Puig to score his second goal of the season.
Paintsil gave LA a two-goal lead when he used his right foot on a penalty kick to shoot into the bottom right corner of the net. Paintsil’s PK followed a handball penalty on San Jose midfielder Niko Tsakiris. Paintsil scored in consecutive games and scored four goals for the season.
Paintsil notched her fourth assist of the campaign with a goal from defender Maya Yoshida to make it 3-0. Yoshida has scored two goals this season and three in a career spanning 21 games over the past two seasons.
Terremotos (1-8-0) got on the scoreboard in the 32nd minute with defender Rodrigues’ first goal of the season. Cristian Espinoza prepared the second goalkeeper of Rodrigues’ career.
Puig capitalized on assists from Pec and Joveljic to score what turned out to be the winning goal in the 56th minute, increasing the Galaxy’s lead to 4-1 with his third goal of the campaign.
San Jose scored twice again when Espinoza recorded his second assist on a Benjamin Kikanović goal in the 58th minute. It was Kikanović’s second goal this season and his first since the first game.
The Galaxy were forced to play with one player less from the 70th minute onwards after defender Eriq Zavaleta received a red card – nine minutes after replacing Martín Cáceres. This led to a PK goal from Jeremy Ebobisse, who drew the free kick on Zavaleta, and the Earthquakes trailed 4-3. It was Ebobisse’s third goal of the season and his 10th goal in 15 career appearances against the Galaxy.
John McCarthy made four saves for the Galaxy, who lead the Western Conference.
William Yarbrough stopped three shots for the Earthquakes. Yarbrough allowed multiple goals in all nine appearances in his first season with the club.
Joveljic has five goals and three assists in eight career games against San Jose.
It was the 100th meeting between the two clubs in all competitions. LA leads the series overall 48-33-19. The Galaxy improved to 39-28-17 in league play with a 5-0-1 mark in their last six games, including a 3-1 road win earlier this season.
San Jose has lost four in a row for the second time this season.
The Galaxy travel to face Austin FC on Saturday. The Earthquakes hit the road for a game against Nashville SC on Saturday.
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AP Football: and
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