For just the second time in their inaugural season, San Diego FC has lost a game at Snapdragon Stadium. SDFC fell 4-3 to Houston on Saturday night in a game that featured four lead changes and a goalie who had to change his jersey because the one he started the game with got too much blood on it.
Escondido native Milan Iloski got the scoring started in the 25th minute when he rifled home his 10th goal of the year off a nice pass from Onni Valaraki to put SDFC on top 1-0. Houston scored twice to go up 2-1 at halftime. SDFC found the equalizer on a Luca Bombino goal in the 54th minute and went back on top 13 minutes later when a shot by Anders Dreyer deflected off Valakari and in for a 3-2 San Diego lead.
Then things got messy. Houston forward Ezequiel Ponce and goalie CJ dos Santos raced to a loose ball and dos Santos took an elbow to the face that bloodied his nose. The medical staff stopped the bleeding by shoving gauze up into his nostrils but the uniform had to be swapped out for a fresh one because he looked like he’d just escaped a meeting with Hannibal Lecter.
To make matters worse, dos Santos was somehow called for a foul on the play, giving Ponce a penalty kick. He converted to tie it and scored the game-winner in the 10th minute of stoppage time to give Houston the win.
The good news is San Diego remains in first place in the Western Conference, one point ahead of Vancouver. Next Saturday they had to Soldier Field to face the Chicago Fire.