SDFC, with calm restored in stands, scores fifth win in May – but it was costly

San Diego FC defeated Austin FC by a points of - Saturday night improving its position as one of the top teams in Major League Soccer s Western Conference Both San Diego goals came relatively late in the event at Snapdragon Stadium with midfielder Luca de la Torre a San Diego native striking first for San Diego During the th minute he connected with a right-footed shot from the center of the goal to the top right corner of the net His teammate star Hirving Chucky Lozano picked up the assist Lozano however left the match with what s presumed to be a left hamstring injury during the th minute He injured the same hamstring during the club s home opener on March and wound up missing three games During the nd minute SDFC forward Milan Iloski an Escondido native who played college soccer at UCLA scored via a right-footed shot from the center of the net to the goal s bottom left corner Danish right winger Anders Dreyer picked up the assist This is my city and I love it a lot super-substitute Iloski explained during the post-match press conference I was brought here to outcome goals and I want to total a lot SDFC Midfielder Luca De La Torre scores the first goal against Austin FC Photo by Chris Stone Times of San Diego With the mastery San Diego s record improves to - - with points good for second place in the conference behind the Vancouver Whitecaps - - points At the same time SDFC forced their conference rival further down the standings as Austin fell to th place with a record of - - and points The outcome was - at the half but San Diego pushed and pushed until eventually managing to break through in the scoring column We re relentless SDFC head coach Mikey Varas disclosed We push every single battle we ve been in This was SDFC s first home match since the ugly violence that erupted in the aftermath of the expansion side s first-ever contest against the L A Galaxy at Snapdragon None of the ugly skirmishes that marred last week s win were visible in the stands Saturday during the championship or in the immediate aftermath SDFC striker Milan Iloski celebrates after scoring the club s second goal Photo by Chris Stone Times of San Diego A few members of the club s Supporters Section of hardcore fans were reportedly among the soccer fans banned indefinitely from MLS games following the event The section featured noticeably fewer flags waving from the seats against Austin This was the third match in eight days for San Diego following the home win against the Galaxy on May and a road loss against the Seattle Sounders on Wednesday San Diego played a total of six matches in the month of May going - - an objectively outstanding end for a franchise that played its first match in late February Iloski and de la Torre weren t the only San Diego County natives who played a role in the contest The match was a homecoming for Austin s Brandon Vasquez The forward who grew up in Chula Vista and played pro soccer in Tijuana started for Austin but did not have much of an impact primarily due to being well defended by the home club Prior to Saturday s matchup Austin FC had posted four straight draws Against San Diego Austin was without two of its more central players Besard Sabovic and Ilie S nchez who were suspended due to accumulating five yellow cards so far this season They each received a one-game ban as a effect Next up SDFC faces Liga MX s Club America in a friendly at Snapdragon on June San Diego then has three consecutive road matches the rest of the month June at Minnesota June at Vancouver and June at Dallas Notes On Thursday San Diego revealed that it signed starting goalkeeper C J Dos Santos to a contract extension through the season with an option for SDFC acquired the -year-old Dos Santos in December from MLS club Inter Miami CF During his tenure opponents have failed to number against SDFC in seven of games including Saturday s match In March alone SDFC held four opponents scoreless