Jonathan Lewis and Rayan Raveloson traded high-velocity first-half goals, though only Raveloson's came from the run of play, and Andre Shinyashiki brought the late winner from the bench as the Colorado Rapids beat the LA Galaxy 2-1 at Dignity Health Sports Park on Tuesday night.
The Rapids got on the scoreboard within the first 15 minutes, thanks to a 10th-minute foul by Raveloson on Lewis. It took a moment with Video Review for referee to determine that the ball was indeed going to the spot. But once it did, Lewis took care of it himself, launching a shot that had potential to go through the back of the net.
Lewis troubled LA's back line even further, with a 16th-minute chance on goal stopped by Sega Coulibaly — which fortunately for the Galaxy did not result in a second penalty awarded — and a 20th-minute chance where Lewis got past a diving Jonathan Bond but couldn't get his stumbling follow-up shot past the Galaxy's last man back (which, in this case, was Julian Araujo.
However, if this match needed a redemption arc, enter Raveloson in the 34th minute. On a play where the ball made its way around the box, Derrick Williams was able to head a pass back to an oncoming Raveloson, who volleyed with a velocity that equaled Lewis's successful shot on goal.
The Galaxy came on strong at the start of the second half, testing Rapids goalkeeper William Yarbrough on several occasions, including a Williams header in the goalmouth that Yarbrough was just able to parry away. Even as the Rapids grew into the second half, the Galaxy were still engineering better chances overall, including a Samuel Grandsir shot in the 62nd minute that hit the post.
But then just a minute after entering the match, Shinyashiki was able to get his head onto a Jack Price corner kick, diverted from a Cole Bassett header to his far post position, where he got just high enough on his well-timed jump to beat Bond.
The Galaxy made it interesting toward the end via a late Efrain Alvarez sub, though it was a Rapids sub, Diego Rubio, with the best of the late chances, striking Bond in the chest with an on-target shot in the first minute of stoppage time and then going just wide ainute later. That stopped the Galaxy's latest unbeaten streak at four matches and allowed Colorado to extend its own current unbeaten streak to four.
Goals
- 13' — COL — Jonathan Lewis (PK)
- 34' — LA — Rayan Raveloson
- 73' — COL — Andre Shinyashiki
