San Diego FC's Winless Run Continues as LAFC Rally for 2-2 Draw in Stoppage Time

Key facts

• San Diego FC led 2-0 before LAFC scored twice in the final eight minutes plus stoppage time.
• Marcus Ingvartsen recorded his first career MLS multi-goal game, scoring in the 7th and 71st minutes.
• Son Heung-min provided his MLS-leading eighth assist on Denis Bouanga's 82nd-minute goal.
• Ryan Hollingshead scored his first goal of the season in the 14th minute of stoppage time to level the match.
• San Diego FC snapped a five-game losing streak but remain winless in six matches since March 13.
• LAFC sit third in the Western Conference with 21 points, while San Diego are 11th with 14 points.
• San Diego goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos suffered a fractured cheekbone and orbital floor fracture in stoppage time.
• San Diego have received seven red cards across all competitions this season.

A Tale of Two Halves at Snapdragon Stadium

San Diego FC appeared poised to end their month-long slide on Saturday night, riding a two-goal performance from Marcus Ingvartsen to a comfortable lead against SoCal rivals LAFC. But a furious late rally by the visitors, capped by Ryan Hollingshead's first goal of the season in the 14th minute of stoppage time, produced a 2-2 draw that left the expansion side still searching for their first win since early March. The result extends San Diego's winless streak to six matches across all competitions, a stark contrast to the historic heights of their inaugural campaign. The Chrome-and-Azul finished first in the Western Conference with 63 points last season and reached the Western Conference Final, but have since lurched into what head coach Mikey Varas called "the first soul-searching stretch of their brief history."

Ingvartsen's Breakout Night Overshadowed by Late Collapse

Marcus Ingvartsen opened the scoring in the seventh minute, heading home Anders Dreyer's corner kick at the near post. The Danish striker doubled the lead in the 71st minute, collecting a cross from Dreyer on the counter-attack, controlling with his first touch, and blasting a shot from the center of the area inside the left post. The 30-year-old now has seven goals and two assists this season, a remarkable turnaround from his debut MLS campaign in 2025, when he managed just two goals and one assist in eight appearances. Saturday marked his first career multi-goal game in MLS. "Last year, the players went after every single game, left their heart and soul on the field, and a lot of those results went our way, by razor-thin margins," Varas said. "And this year, they're going after every game – especially recently, we've gotten back to playing with leaving every single little bit of us on the field, and the results are going against us, on a razor-thin margin."

Son Heung-min and LAFC's Second-Half Surge

LAFC head coach Marc Dos Santos rotated his squad heavily ahead of Wednesday's Concacaf Champions Cup semifinal second leg against Deportivo Toluca, making nine changes from the team that beat Toluca 2-1 in the first leg. Son Heung-min was among those initially benched, coming on for Ryan Raposo in the 60th minute. The Korean superstar made an immediate impact, providing his league-leading eighth assist of the season – and 15th in all competitions – when he set up Denis Bouanga in the 82nd minute for LAFC's first shot on goal. Bouanga, who has scored at least 20 goals in each of the last three seasons, now has five this season. Son's assist moved him one ahead of Niko Tsakiris of San Jose Earthquakes and Telasco Segovia of Inter Miami in the MLS assist race. The 2-2 draw leaves LAFC third in the Western Conference with 21 points, behind San Jose (28) and Vancouver Whitecaps FC (24).

Stoppage-Time Drama and Injury Blow

Deep into stoppage time, with San Diego clinging to a 2-1 lead, Mathieu Choiniere's soft header off a corner kick played to the back post by David Martinez bounced in front of goal. Hollingshead slammed home the finish to level the match at 2-2, his first goal of the season. The goal came in the 14th minute of stoppage time, capping a frantic finish that saw San Diego goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos leave the field injured. The 24-year-old, who recorded 10 shutouts last season, suffered a fractured cheekbone and orbital floor fracture in a playoff loss at Portland on Nov. 1, and was replaced by Duran Ferree for the final moments. San Diego have been hamstrung by a whopping seven red cards across all competitions this season, contributing to what Varas described as "non-continuity of lineups." The club also lacks an MLS NEXT Pro team or an Under-19 academy side, exacerbating fatigue from a congested schedule that included two high-altitude tests in Mexico.

The ConcaChampions Hangover and Rising Expectations

San Diego's struggles follow a pattern familiar to MLS teams that advance deep in the Concacaf Champions Cup. The proverbial "ConcaChampions hangover" has claimed many victims before, and San Diego's exertions against Mexican giants Pumas UNAM and Deportivo Toluca appear to have taken a tangible toll. Opponents have also accumulated extensive scouting data on San Diego's patterns of play. "We have been facing a little bit more man-v-man, high pressure," Ingvartsen noted. "It's more our level that has been dropping a little bit; we haven't been able to fix that first line of pressure." Varas acknowledged the multifaceted nature of the slump: "There's never one thing. A lot of circumstances that have led to it. One, red-card situations leading to non-continuity of lineups; injury situations, same idea. Playing a lot of minutes with 10 players, having a shorter preparation in the preseason... Dealing with the disappointment of playing two competitions and getting knocked out in a really tough competition."

Captain's Absence Compounds San Diego's Woes

The injury bug claimed its costliest casualty this week: club captain and holding midfielder Jeppe Tverskov, the cerebral metronome of Varas' intricate possession system. Tverskov's absence leaves a void in the center of the park that San Diego have struggled to fill. Despite the setbacks, Varas struck an optimistic tone. "On a professional level, this has been one of the more beautiful challenges that I've faced," he said. "But when people say challenges, I think that they take a lot of negative connotation to it, and I look at it as something that's absolutely amazing." San Diego (3-5-3) snapped a five-game losing streak with the draw but remain 11th in the Western Conference. The club that set a ludicrously high bar in its inaugural season now faces the task of rediscovering the form that made them the best expansion team in MLS history.

What Comes Next for Both Sides

LAFC turn their attention to Wednesday's Concacaf Champions Cup semifinal second leg against Deportivo Toluca in Mexico, where they will defend a 2-1 aggregate lead. The draw in San Diego keeps them within striking distance of conference leaders San Jose and Vancouver. For San Diego, the immediate priority is halting a winless run that stretches back to March 13, when a 4-0 loss at Toluca eliminated them from the Champions Cup. The club's next match offers another chance to reverse a season that has seen them fall from Western Conference champions to mid-table also-rans. The underlying numbers suggest San Diego are not far from turning their fortunes around. As Varas noted, the margins have been razor-thin. But in a league where momentum can shift quickly, the expansion side must find a way to convert close calls into victories before the gap to the playoff line widens further.

The bottom line

• San Diego FC remain winless in six matches after blowing a two-goal lead against LAFC, with a 2-2 draw at Snapdragon Stadium.
• Marcus Ingvartsen scored twice for San Diego, his first multi-goal game in MLS, but the team's defensive fragility late in matches persists.
• Son Heung-min provided his MLS-leading eighth assist, setting up Denis Bouanga's goal, and is now one assist ahead of the next closest competitors.
• Ryan Hollingshead's stoppage-time equalizer was his first goal of the season and came in the 14th minute of added time.
• San Diego goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos suffered a fractured cheekbone and orbital floor fracture, adding to the club's injury woes.
• LAFC rotated heavily ahead of their Concacaf Champions Cup semifinal second leg and still managed to salvage a point on the road.