San Jose – Vitor Costa and Cristian Espinoza’s back-to-back first half goals and a go-ahead goal by Jeremy Ebobisse in the second half led the Quakes 3-2 win over longtime rival Seattle Sounders Saturday night in San Jose. The win ended their winless skid to open the season.
Earthquakes head coach Luchi Gonzalez added that he and the team took a big sigh of relief after the final whistle.
“It feels great,” he said. “Especially for the players. They’ve been fantastic, just in terms of trying to get better and we’ve been disappointed with the results, we know that. Things haven’t bounced our way but you see them early, in the week, competing with energy and belief.
“I thought tonight didn’t just show belief, hope, and energy, they showed determination, and they found a way to get it done.”
Not only did San Jose grab their first win of the season, but they also kept the Sounders winless on the young campaign and sent Seattle to the bottom of the Western Conference table while propelling themselves out of the basement.
“We finally got one on our belt,” midfielder Jackson Yueill said. “This is something that we worked really hard at for 99 minutes and something that we’re proud to do.”
The Earthquakes came out aggressive, they had a chance at an early goal in the fifth minute as Espinoza sent in a cross to Seattle’s far right post, however the ball just floated over Benji Kikanovic and cleared everyone in the box.
A few minutes later, Preston Judd gave the Quakes the go-ahead lead in the 10th minute, firing a shot toward the upper corner, however it was routinely saved by Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei. Judd would get another chance at a similar shot on goal a few minutes later, however his shot would go just high and wide.
After holding the Sounders off for nearly the whole half, the Quakes finally got on the board in the 42nd minute as Vitor Costa scored his second goal of the season. Knocking in a headed pass from Bruno Wilson and finding the back of the net to open the scoring.
San Jose doubled their lead just a minute later after Espinoza scored off a pass from Judd following a Quakes counter off of a Seattle turnover. The goal was originally disallowed because it looked as if Judd was offsides, however, the call was reversed to a San Jose goal following a VAR video review.
Seattle tried to respond immediately in the second half. In the 57th minute, Sounders forward Jordan Morris beat defender Paul Marie to the top of the San Jose 18-yard-box. His shot was stopped at the corner of the six-yard-box by Yarbrough, who helped stop Morris on another situation in front of net in the first half and managed to swipe away the chance then as well.
Seattle earned a penalty kick in the 70th minute following a tackle by defender Paul Marie in the box and Raul Ruidiaz scored from the spot to pull Seattle back to 2-1. The Sounders soon tied the match in the 81st minute as Danny Musovski headed in a perfect cross to the far post by Cody Baker.
San Jose responded immediately as the Quakes beat Seattle’s backline to the box and Jeremy Ebobisse hit a cross from Jack Skahan into the back of the net in the 82nd minute to go back up 3-2. Ebobisse hopes that Saturday night’s performance will push San Jose’s attack to a higher level.
“We haven’t scored the number of goals that we’ve had in the past,” he said. “So, finding ways to do that with the personnel that we have from back to front has been a priority.”
San Jose had to defend for their life for 10 minutes of stoppage time, two more from the eight that was originally called, to hold on for the win.
“This is something that we want to keep building off of,” Yueill added. “I think we have a great team.”
San Jose travels to Texas for their next two matches, starting with a date against the Houston Dynamo next Saturday, then to Austin to take on Austin FC on April 6. They return for their only home match of April against the Colorado Rapids on April 13.
Photo by Quakes/Twitter
