Friday, April 26, 2013
FULLERTON, Calif. – The Los Angeles Blues remained undefeated at Titan Stadium and moved back into first place in the USL PRO standings as they took a 4-0 victory against the Wilmington Hammerheads on Friday night. The Blues got first-half goals by Shay Spitz and Mershad Momeni, and second-half goals by Chris Cortez and Juan Perez-Bernal ro earn their fourth win of the season, while also handing the Hammerheads their first loss of the season.
Wilmington found themselves down a man after only 18 seconds, when midfielder Paul Nicholson was sent off after a hard foul from behind on Los Angeles’ captain Allan Russell. Spitz opened scoring soon after, capitalizing on a cross by James Turner to give the Blues the lead in the fifth minute.
With a man-advantage, the Blues maintained possession of the ball, and increased their lead to 2-0 in the 17th minute after Momeni struck the back of the net from 25 yards into the top-left corner.
The Blues had chances to add to their scoreline when Spitz took charge of a counter-attack, opening a chance for Cortez, only for the forward's shot to sail over the crossbar from the top of the penalty area. Spitz also went close when he was able to find an opportunity to put the Blues up by another goal, but Wilmington goalkeeper Phil Tuttle denied him only seconds before the hour-mark.
Los Angeles would add to its lead in the final 10 minutes as Cortez scored his second goal of the season when he found the back of the net in the 81st minute off a low near-post cross by Russell from the left side. Perez-Bernal added a fourth goal only three minutes later to seal the victory for the Blues, becoming the Blues' 10th goal-scorer this season in the process.
Wilmington completes its weekend trip to the west coast on Sunday night as it visits Phoenix FC at 10:30 p.m. ET. Los Angeles returns to action on Sunday, May 5 as it hosts the Pittsburgh Riverhounds at Titan Stadium. Tickets are available at labluesprosoccer.com.