2012 Apr 16 2012 Apr 16
Home Depot Center, Carson, CA
Goals:
90' LA: Rafael Garcia (Raul Mendiola)
Los Angeles: Bill Gaudette; Bryan Jordan (Oscar Sorto 87'), Andrew Boyens, Dan Keat, Bryan Gaul; Hector Jimenez, Kenney Walker, Marcelo Sarvas (Rafael Garcia 60'), Kyle Nakazawa (Raul Mendiola 77'); Pat Noonan (Jose Villarreal 77'), Adam Cristman.
Substitutes not used: Jordan King.
Seattle: Brian Meredith; Roger Levesque, John Kennedy Hurtado, Andrew Duran, Marc Burch; Cordell Cato, Servando Carrasco, Andy Rose, Christian Sivebęk (sent off 69'); Sammy Ochoa (Alex Caskey 87'), Mike Seamon. Substitutes not used: Brian Rowe, Jonathan Prieto, Armando Ochoa, Sean Morrison.
Match report from LA Galaxy:
With a goal in the 90th minute from midfielder Rafael Garcia, the LA Galaxy beat Seattle Sounders FC 1-0 in their MLS Reserve League game at The Home Depot Center on Monday. The Galaxy improved their Reserve League record to 1-1-0, while Seattle fell to 0-2-1 with the loss.
Seattle was forced to play the final 20 minutes of the game down a man after Danish midfielder Christian Sivebęk was given a straight red card in the 69th minute for a hard tackle on rookie defender Bryan Gaul.
The Galaxy, who had the better of the play following Sivebęk's red card, finally made that man advantage pay off in the 90th minute when Garcia, a rookie drafted out of Cal State Northridge in the second round of the 2012 MLS Supplemental Draft, scored his first goal for the club. Galaxy Academy midfielder Raul Mendiola was credited with an assist on the goal.
The goal scoring sequence began on the right wing touchline with Hector Jimenez, who spotted Mendiola open across the field on the opposite sideline. Mendiola received the pass from Jimenez, quickly gave it to an open Garcia and smartly continued his run forward. Garcia played it back to Mendiola and then made a timely run into the box. Mendiola spotted Garcia and clipped the ball into the center of the penalty are for Garcia, who powered a diving header past Brian Meredith and into the back of the net to give LA the win.
Before the Sounders were cut down to 10-men, both teams struggled to break down the opposition defense, meaning that chances were few and far between.
Seattle's two best chances came a minute apart just before the hour mark. In the 58th minute, rookie midfielder Andy Rose drove a powerful long-range shot that forced goalkeeper Bill Gaudette to parry his save around the post for a corner. On the ensuing corner kick, Marc Burch found Roger Levesque at the back post, only for his close range shot to be blocked. A scramble inside the box ensued before LA were eventually able to clear the ball away from danger.
Misconduct:
45' LA: Sarvas cautioned
59' SEA: Rose cautioned
63' LA: Gaul cautioned
68' SEA: Burch cautioned
69' SEA: Sivebęk sent off
88' LA: Walker cautioned
Referees: Juan Guzman; Luis Gutierrez, Bernhard Hosu; Shahin Torosian
Postmatch quotes from coach Ezra Hendrickson:
On the game: "The second half, we had a better effort than we did in the first half. In the first half, we didn't create much at all. Even with a man down we were able to get some good chances, but it was not enough. It's hard to play that long with a man down."
On the effort: "I can't fault the boys for effort. They played really hard, especially when we went a man down. But it was just too much pressure to withstand for so long."
On Roger Levesque's chance in the 58th minute: "If we score that, we go up 1-0 and then the pressure is on them. But it wasn't meant to be. We have to see games out and it's kind of disheartening that we couldn't. But the boys will rebound next week and go back to the drawing board and fight even harder."
