LA Galaxy II (1-5-3, 6 points) secured their first win of the season against Saint Louis FC (3-2-4, 13 points) with a season high six goals in a 6-3 victory on Wednesday night at StubHub Center Track & Field Stadium. Efrain Alvarez and Ethan Zubak both recorded their first professional hat tricks in the match, with Alvarez becoming the youngest to do so in USL history.
After coming off a scoring run in their last game, Los Dos pumped out back-to-back first-half goals to make their presence known in the opening 45 minutes. Ethan Zubak started things off in the 14th minute with a breakaway finish supplied by Nate Shultz. Four minutes later, Efrain Alvarez followed suit with help from an assist by John Requejo. Saint Louis answered with a goal in the 39th minute.
But Los Dos responded two minutes into the second half when Alvarez beat out two defenders to navigate inside the 18-yard box and beautifully curl the ball into the far post. Again, Saint Louis answered with a goal after, this time in the 67th minute.
Not allowing the momentum to shift, Los Dos built up play to enable a great header from Zubak in the 70th minute for his second goal of the night. Five minutes later, in the 75th minute, Alvarez beat the goalkeeper to score for a third time, recording his first professional hat trick.
Saint Louis pulled out one more goal in the 87th minute. However, Los Dos got the final say with a goal from Zubak four minutes into stoppage time, to make it his first professional hat trick.
Six goals is the most ever scored by LA Galaxy II at the StubHub Center Track & Field Stadium. LA Galaxy II had only scored five goals in their first eight games of the season before tonight’s contest.
Next, LA Galaxy II will travel to face Portland Timbers 2 at 11:00 a.m. PT on Friday, May 18 at Providence Park in Portland, Ore.
Scoring Summary:
LA – Ethan Zubak 14’ (Assisted by Nate Shultz)
LA – Efrain Alvarez 18’ (Assisted by John Requejo)
STL – Albert Dikwa 39’ (Assisted by Kadeem Dacres)
LA – Efrain Alvarez 47’
STL – Kyle Greig 67’
LA – Ethan Zubak 70’ (Assisted by Ariel Lassiter)
LA – Efrain Alvarez 75’ ( Assisted by Nate Shultz)
STL – Kyle Greig 87’ (Assisted by Lewis Hilton)
LA – Ethan Zubak 90+4’ (Assisted by Miguel Aguilar)
Misconduct Summary:
STL – Kadeem Dacres 32’
STL – Joey Calistri 64’
STL – Kyle Greig 70’
LA – Emmanuel Appiah 90’
Lineups:
LA Galaxy II: Justin Vom Steeg, Nate Shultz, Tomas Hilliard-Arce (Emrah Klimenta 45’), John Requejo, Hugo Arellano, Emmanuel Appiah, Andre Zanga, Efrain Alvarez (Julian Büscher 81’), Ariel Lassiter; Ethan Zubak, Bradford Jamieson IV (Miguel Aguilar 45’)
Substitutions not used: Wade Hamilton, Jean Engola, Geoffrey Acheampong, Emrah Klimenta, Frank Lopez
TOTAL SHOTS: 7; SHOTS ON GOAL: 6; FOULS: 12; OFFSIDE: 2; CORNER KICKS: 1; SAVES: 2.
Saint Louis FC: Jake Fenlason; Phanuel Kavita, Sam Fink, Sean Reynolds, Kyle Culbertson; Austin Ledbetter (Kyle Greig 61’), Lewis Hilton, Jonathan Barden, Kadeem Dacres (Edward Opoku 61’), Albert Dikwa (Joey Calistri 61’), Corey Hertzog
Substitutions not used: Tomas Gomez
TOTAL SHOTS: 7; SHOTS ON GOAL: 5; FOULS: 8; OFFSIDE: 5; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 0.
Referee: Daniel Radford
Attendance: 858
NOTES:
- LA Galaxy II (1-5-3, 6 points) secured their first win of the season with a 6-3 victory against Saint Louis FC (3-2-4, 13 points) on Wednesday night at StubHub Center Track & Field Stadium.
- 15-year-old Efrain Alvarez scored his first professional hat trick.
- Alvarez is the youngest player in USL history to score a hat trick.
- Alvarez has scored in back-to-back games.
- 20-year-old Ethan Zubak scored his first professional hat trick.
- Los Dos scored a season-high six goals in the match. Six goals is the most ever scored by LA Galaxy II at the StubHub Center Track & Field Stadium.
- Julian Büscher and Nate Shultz co-lead LA Galaxy II in assists this season (2).
- Alvarez leads LA Galaxy II in goals this season (4).
- LA Galaxy II finished the 2017 season with a 4-8-4 home record and a 4-11-1 away record.
- Next, LA Galaxy II will travel to face Portland Timbers 2 at 11:00 a.m. PT on Friday, May 18 at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon.
