SAN DIEGO (AP) — Substitute defenders Anthony Markanich and Carlos Harvey ended a scoreless duel with goals three minutes apart in the second half, Nectarios Triantis debuted with a goal and an assist and Minnesota United went on to beat expansion side San Diego FC 3-1 on Saturday night in a battle between the top two teams in the Western Conference.
Markanich subbed into the match in the 63rd minute before taking a pass from JoaquÃn Pereyra in the 74th and scoring for a 1-0 lead. Seven of Markanich's eight career goals have come this season. Pereyra's assist was his 10th in his first full season in the league.
Both of Harvey's goals have come this year in his second full season. He entered midway through the first half and used assists from Triantis and Kelvin Yeboah — his third — to score.
Triantis made it 3-0 with a goal in the second minute of stoppage time after coming in with Markanich.
San Diego avoided a shutout when Jeppe Tverskov scored his second goal in his first season — three minutes after Triantis.
Dayne St. Clair totaled 12 saves for Minnesota United.
CJ dos Santos stopped two shots for San Diego.
Minnesota United (15-6-9) pulls within two points of first-place San Diego (17-8-5) with four regular-season matches remaining. Both clubs have already clinched postseason berths.
San Diego travels to play Atlanta United on Saturday. Minnesota United returns home to play the Chicago Fire on Saturday.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.