Austin FC grab 2-goal lead, hand San Diego FC first loss

Brandon Vazquez scored his first goal for his new club, John Gallagher added his first of the season and Austin FC held on to their early lead in a 2-1 victory over visiting San Diego FC on Sunday.

Vazquez, the one-time FC Cincinnati striker, moved to Austin (3-2-0, 9 points) this winter seeking to regain the form that saw him score 18 league goals in 2022 for Cincinnati, and potentially play his way back into the U.S. men's national team picture.

Luca de la Torre, another player who could attract attention from U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino, scored his first MLS goal for expansion team San Diego (2-1-2, 8 points).

But the visitors fell a goal short of extending their unbeaten start in MLS to five matches, which would've been a new record for an expansion team.

Austin roared to a two-goal advantage after only 19 minutes en route to its second consecutive victory.

First it was Vazquez in the 10th minute running onto Diego Rubio's through ball that split the back line. As San Diego goalkeeper C.J. dos Santos (three saves) charged off his line, Vazquez took a touch to his right to round him, then slid in a low finish into an open goal from a tight angle.

Vazquez was again involved in the 19th minute when he used his body to weather a challenge and earn a free kick at midfield.

Owen Wolff cleverly ran onto the dead ball and quickly played down the right to Gallagher racing behind the back line.

This time dos Santos took a more measured approach to trying to cut the angle, but Gallagher guided a perfectly placed shot inside the far left corner.

San Diego cut the deficit in half eight minutes later when Onni Valakari took Jeppe Tverskov's pass inside the penalty area and laid the ball back for de La Torre for a one time shot, which took a deflection to wrongfoot Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver (three saves) before crossing the goal line.

--Field Level Media