Philadelphia Union
Union offense keeps humming with 5-0 win in San Diego
Cavan Sullivan registered his first brace in MLS play and the Philadelphia Union continued their ascent in the standings with a 5-0 win over San Diego FC on Sunday night at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego.
Early on it looked like the hosts might be trouble for the Union with a couple of big chances – including a golden opportunity at the feet of prolific goal-scorer Anders Dreyer – but just before halftime it was Cavan Sullivan with an unreal backheel finish that put the visitors up.
The Sullivan goal also capped a strange stoppage time period, which included a red card being downgraded to a yellow after video review against Alejandro Alvarado following a late kick of the ball toward the face of former teammate Milan Iloski.
Iloski nearly doubled the lead for the Union after the break with a shot that clanged off the crossbar in the 52nd minute. San Diego was able to create a couple half chances that led to Andre Blake saves – former Union homegrown David Vazquez had a headed chance shortly after coming into the game – but it was Sullivan again with another goal to make it 2-0 in the 62nd minute. The strike through the legs of the San Diego keeper Duran Ferree came from a tight angle after Cavan was played in by Indiana Vassilev. The assist was Vassilev’s second of the night.
Five minutes later it was the hat trick hero from last week, Bruno Damiani, getting in on the scoring act again with a smooth finish after Frankie Westfield played a good ball across the box. Sullivan was credited with a secondary assist on the play to add to his tally. The soon-to-be 17-year-old now has 6 goals and 11 assists in MLS play through 23 games.
With the result comfortably in hand the Union kept pushing for more and found another goal off a corner kick thanks to a well-taken header, albeit by a San Diego FC player this time. Anibal Godoy tried to head the ball clear after a flick on by Ezekiel Alladoh but put it into the net instead to make it 4-0 to the visitors in the 87th minute.
While the story of the night was the younger Sullivan, Quinn Sullivan connected with 17-year-old striker Malik Jakupovic in the 4th minute of stoppage time to set up Jakupovic’s first MLS goal. The goal secured a second straight 5-0 win for the boys in blue, a third straight win overall and the 9th straight game without a loss since the start of the Ryan Ricter era as interim head coach.
The Union are now 7th in the Eastern Conference standings, one win from reaching the .500 mark and heading to Western Conference cellar dweller Sporting Kansas City for their next match on Saturday.
