EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- Simon Elliott scored in first-half injury time Saturday and the unbeaten Los Angeles Galaxy made it stand up for a 1-0 victory over the New York-New Jersey MetroStars.
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L.A.'s Roy Meyers tries to pull away from MetroStars defender Steve Jolley. |
The victory boosted the Galaxy to 5-0-2, while the MetroStars
slipped to 2-5.
Each team had its best scoring chance right before halftime.
The Galaxy's goal came 1:20 into injury time, when Ezra
Hendrickson ran onto a pass from Cobi Jones on the right and
crossed the ball. Both Joe Franchino and MetroStars defender Steve
Shak tried to get a head on the ball but it went to the foot of
Elliott, lurking wide of the far post.
Elliott took the ball down and tucked his left-footed shot
between goalkeeper Mike Ammann and the near post.
A minute earlier, the MetroStars' Mark Chung took a through pass
from Peter Villegas and saw his left-footed shot from 15 yards hit
off the inside of the right post and carom harmlessly across the
goal mouth.
The MetroStars pushed forward aggressively in the final 20
minutes, trying to tie the game. Brian Kelly sent a shot just wide
of the L.A. goal in the 72nd minute, while in the 74th, Villegas'
bicycle kick went just over the Galaxy crossbar.
Ammann kept the MetroStars in the match by saving a penalty kick
by Greg Vanney with seven minutes left.
Oft-injured MetroStars midfielder Tab Ramos played for the first time since July 10. He entered at halftime, replacing Shak, who had played every minute (589) of every game this season. Ramos' shot with a minute remaining flew wide right of the goal.