If there is another team with a flair for the dramatic like San Diego Loyal, I sure have not been introduced to them. The team, led by head coach and soccer legend Landon Donovan, pulled out a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Switchbacks on Monday night without its leading scorer, forward Kyle Vassell, and in front of a raucous crowd at Weidner Field.
San Diego fell behind in the 36th minute when forward Hadji Barry took advantage of a ball between Alejandro Guido and Kyle Adams leaving him one-on-one versus Koke Vegas and beating the goalkeeper with a right-footed shot from just inside the box.
San Diego had two chances to tie the game first off a header from Adams in the 39th minute and then from a shot that hit the post by forward Tumi Moshobane in the 50th minute.
Kyle Adams finally broke the goose egg converting on a header from five yards out in the 51st minute courtesy of a corner kick from midfielder Charlie Adams who then got his second assist of the match after finding Moshobane in the 63rd for the 2-1 lead.
Just when it seemed that SD Loyal had regained the momentum and was on track for its third straight win and fourth in the last five matches, the soccer gods along with a poor decision by defender Grant Stoneman changed all that. Stoneman received his second yellow card of the game after getting called for a handball in the box.
The replay showed that he did have his left arm away from his body in what the referee deemed was an unnatural position to issue the second yellow, which became red, Stoneman’s second of the season, with the penalty kick converted by Barry moments later.
Most teams would settle for the tie at that point and under those circumstances but not San Diego Loyal. Their persistence and belief that the best defense is a good offense paid off in the 81st minute when midfielder Collin Martin took a shot from a long distance that forced goalkeeper Jeff Caldwell to dive for in order to make the save, however, the deflection went straight to the waiting foot of forward Evan Conway who put the ball in the back of the net for the 3-2 lead.
The referee would tack on a ridiculous and unwarranted nine minutes of added time, even though seven minutes were indicated by the fourth official, which was still more than what was necessary but it made no difference.
The victory places San Diego Loyal within two points of Colorado for second place in the Western Conference standings with their next match coming this Saturday against LA Galaxy II at Torero Stadium.
Photo courtesy San Diego Loyal
