Timo Werner scored the tiebreaking goal on a penalty kick in the 78th minute and the MLS-best San Jose Earthquakes erupted for five second-half goals in a 5-1 victory over visiting Austin FC on Wednesday night.
Preston Judd recorded his second career brace while Jack Jasinski and Ousseni Bouda also scored goals as San Jose (8-1-0, 24 points) continued its franchise-best start. The Earthquakes scored four of their goals in a 12-minute stretch late in the second half while notching their fifth consecutive victory.
San Jose dominated the contest with a 37-6 edge in shots. The Earthquakes put 16 shots on target compared to Austin’s two.
Joseph Rosales scored for Austin FC (1-4-4, 7 points) and Brad Stuver allowed his club to hold the lead most of the game with 11 saves, some of them spectacular stops.
Austin is winless in its last seven MLS matches (0-4-3).
The go-ahead sequence began when San Jose was awarded a penalty kick when Austin’s Nicolas Dubersarsky knocked down Jamar Ricketts in the box in the 77th minute.
One minute later, Werner stood at the spot and placed a right-footed shot into the lower left corner of the net to give the Earthquakes their first lead.
San Jose tacked off another tally in the 83rd minute when Paul Marie fed Judd for a right-footed running shot past Stuver.
Two minutes later, Bouda stole the ball from Austin’s Jon Bell and sent a left-footed shot that caromed off Stuver and into the net to give the Quakes a 4-1 edge.
The onslaught continued in the 89th minute when Marie sent a pass to Judd, who headed it into the net.
Earlier, San Jose knotted the score at 1 in the 58th minute when Jasinski, a rookie, made good on his second header attempt in two minutes.
On the first one, Jasinski’s header clanked off the near goalpost. Chance No. 2 came off Niko Tsakiris’ corner kick and he rose up and snapped a header past Stuver for his first MLS goal.
Austin’s goal in the ninth minute came after a wayward San Jose pass in its own end was scooped up by Rosales.
Rosales dribbled in and delivered a hard left-footed shot that caromed off the leg of Daniel and into the net.
Austin nearly struck again in the 17th minute but Facundo Torres’ hard left-foot shot was stopped for Daniel’s lone save of the match. Daniel then used his right hand to slap the ball to the side and out of harm’s way.
–Field Level Media
