Photo: San Jose Earthquakes
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Behind a strong defensive effort against a Western Conference club in playoff position, the Earthquakes would’ve liked to snag three points in front of 13,744 faithful at PayPal Park.
But in a game where the Quakes (3-10-2) blew yet another lead, San Jose and Austin FC’s (6-4-5) bout ended in a 1-1 draw with both goals coming in the first half. The Quakes struggled with discipline — tallying four yellow cards — which would be proven costly late in the first half.
Forward Jeremy Ebobisse scored his first goal since Apr. 21 to give San Jose early momentum in the 10th minute. The 27-year-old’s sliding finish capitalized on a beautiful feed from midfielder Cristian Espinoza, who sent an uncontested pass from the top of the 18-yard box to the 6-yard box.
From there, Ebobisse caught goalkeeper Brad Stuver out of position for the score, notching his fourth goal of the season, which co-leads the team. The goal followed a series of early Quakes chances that were to no avail. Espinoza’s assist moved him up to fourth in MLS with nine total on the season.
However, just like in a handful of other matches this season, San Jose failed to build on to its early success and finish the full game on a high note. Nearing halftime, proceeding a series of free kicks in the Earthquakes’ end, Austin FC evened the game in the 45th minute. The ball ricocheted off Quakes midfielder Jackson Yueill and into the net following a set-piece lob from Austin FC that struck the head of defender Brendan Hines-Ike, who was credited with the goal.
Hines-Ike’s score was his first since his MLS debut in 2021.
A pivotal moment in the 90th minute had the home fans initially holding their collective breath and then sighing with frustration when the play ended; an accurate cross from second-half substitute midfielder Jack Skahan gave a wide-open Espinoza a chance to net the potential game-winner, but his touch tapped the post.
The play wasn’t over, though, and midfielder Hernán López had point-blank range to finish the play with a goal. But his shot clanked the crossbar — which ended the offensive sequence — effectively shutting down San Jose’s hopes of winning the hard-fought battle.
López had multiple scoring opportunities throughout the match but couldn’t make the most of them.
“It’s disappointing, the guys are bummed out,” said head coach Luchi Gonzalez postgame. “It feels like a loss because we had the lead.”
Espinoza led a last-ditch effort to break the tie in the 93rd minute, but his centering pass was quickly cleared away by Austin.
“We let [Austin FC] off the hook, we didn’t put away some clear chances,” said Gonzalez. “When we play with this urgency and this desire to push the game and score and attack, I know we’ll earn points and win more games over the course of time.”
William Yarbrough received the nod in net for the Earthquakes and only needed to make one save, speaking to the team’s stout defensive effort against an Austin squad that was coming off two consecutive victories.
“We all know we need to step it up,” said Yarbrough. “Today it’s a bit frustrating that we conceded late in the first half, but I thought defensively, it’s the best game I’ve been a part of since the season started.”
Through all of the frustration, the Quakes can at least celebrate moving up from last place in the West, now narrowly ahead of 15th-place Sporting Kansas City.
The 1-1 draw capped off a grueling, five-game, two-week stretch for the Quakes. San Jose will have the chance to rest for a week upon a road meeting with New York City FC, one of the league’s top teams.
“New York City is a good team, they’re dangerous in their attack, so we have to be defensively solid,” said Gonzalez. “If we’re good defensively — as a foundation — then from there, we can attack.”
NYCFC currently sits at third in the Eastern Conference table with a 5-2-1 record at home. The Earthquakes will visit the Pigeons for the only time this year on Friday at 4:30 p.m. PST at Yankee Stadium.
Kasey Kazliner is an undergraduate sports broadcaster at USC. He covers a variety of sports, but particularly loves analyzing the Quakes’ prospect pipeline. He is The Town FC’s official beat writer and covers every match for the club. You can follow him on Twitter here.
