CARSON, Calif. – San Diego Loyal SC scored inside the opening minute on its way to the best attacking performance in the club’s short history and a 3-0 victory against the LA Galaxy II at Dignity Health Sports Park on Wednesday night, keeping the chances of a postseason berth in the club’s first season firmly alive.

It took only 36 seconds for the visitors to open the scoring, marking the fastest goal in the club’s inaugural season, as Miguel Berry notched his first goal since arriving on loan from Columbus Crew SC. After turning over possession again after an initial attack had broken down, the ball came to Alejandro Guido at the top of the penalty area. He slid a clever pass through the back line that found Berry moving into the left side of the box, and Berry’s finish picked out the bottom-right corner of the net.

Berry played a role again as the visitors doubled their lead in the 20th minute, continuing the buildup to find Jack Metcalf moving into space on the right side. The English full back’s low cross to the back post was met by SD Loyal debutant Rubio Rubin as the former U.S. international tucked home his first goal in the club’s colors.

Los Dos had difficulty finding a way into the game in the attacking third, but in the 38th minute San Diego had its third as Berry struck again. Taking a long pass upfield that sent him down the right side, Berry briefly had possession poked away from him by a defender, but recovered the ball and used a quick first step to turn the corner and find a way into the right side of the penalty area. There, his low shot from a narrow angle eluded Galaxy II goalkeeper Abraham Romero for Berry’s second of the night.

Guido almost made it four a minute later as his clever chipped finish from 40 yards almost caught Romero far enough off his line, only for the goalkeeper to recover and tip wide of the left post. Los Dos then threatened 11 minutes into the second half when a driving run by Ivan Gutierrez down the left resulted in a low cross that Alejandro Alvarado Jr. fired over the crossbar with his first-time finish.

Any chance of a comeback by the hosts took a hit with 25 minutes to go, however, as Alvarado was sent off after receiving his second yellow card of the contest, and from their SD Loyal was able to keep a lid on the contest as it set up another key game to its playoff chances on Sunday night against Orange County SC.

USLChampionship.com Man of the Match

Miguel Berry, San Diego Loyal SC – Berry scored two of SD Loyal’s goals as he played just over an hour and battled well to lead the line as the new-look lineup paid off impressively on the road.