The third time playing at Snapdragon Stadium was the charm for San Diego FC as it earned its first home victory of the season, beating Los Angeles Football Club 3-2 on Saturday night.

The win came after a scoreless draw versus St. Louis City SC on March 1, along with a 1-1 tie against the Columbus Crew on March 15, and places SDFC in third place of the Western Conference standings.

“This is what dreams are made of,” said San Diego FC head coach Mikey Varas. “We all do this for these moments. We want to play in pressure, and I think we had two good home games that we weren’t able to deliver three points.”

SDFC took a 3-0 lead on goals by defender Christopher McVey in the 21st minute, forward Onni Valakari in the 33rd minute, and forward Alex Mighten in the 40th minute before the visitors punched back with two late scores in the final minutes of the first half by defender Artem Smolyakov and forward Cengiz Ünder.

San Diego FC took a man advantage in the 53rd minute when midfielder Igor Jesus got his second yellow card, which did hurt, but did not eradicate the offensive attack for LA. SDFC goalkeeper CJ dos Santos also came up big when called upon, just like the last time his team had a man advantage at home versus Columbus.

San Diego forward Hirving Lozano made his first appearance since week two due to a hamstring injury after being subbed in for midfielder Luca de la Torre in the 72nd minute, creating a clear scoring chance versus goalkeeper Hugo Lloris a few minutes later, but the play was called offside. The final minutes saw a frenzy by LAFC to find the tying goal to no avail as the San Diego defense stood strong.

“This means everything to us, it’s the first win in club victory at home, that can’t be taken for granted,” Varas added.

SDFC will host two-time MLS champion and 2022 Concacaf Champions Cup winner Seattle Sounders on Saturday, April 5. The Sounders are coming off a 1-1 draw on the road against the San Jose Earthquakes.

Photo by San Diego FC