Galaxy Remain Unbeaten with Hard Fought Road Win 2-0

LA Galaxy 2, Columbus Crew 0
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Columbus Crew Stadium - Columbus, Ohio

Scoring Summary:
LA – Michael Stephens 1 (Chris Birchall 1, Jovan Kirovski 1) 10’
LA – Tristan Bowen 1 (Chris Klein 2) 87’

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Omar Gonzalez (Yellow Card) 25’
LA – AJ DeLaGarza (Yellow Card) 29’
CLB – Jed Zayner (Yellow Card) 35’
LA – Chris Birchall (Yellow Card) 78’
LA – Todd Dunivant (Yellow Card) 90’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts; Todd Dunivant, Gregg Berhalter©, Omar Gonzalez, A.J. DeLaGarza; Michael Stephens, Chris Birchall (Bryan Jordan 83’), Jovan Kirovski, Sean Franklin (Chris Klein 83’); Tristan Bowen, Mike Magee (Clint Mathis 65’).

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Leonardo, Alex Cazumba, Eddie Lewis.

Columbus Crew: Will Hesmer; Gino Padula (Emilio Renteria 60’), Chad Marshall, Andy Iro, Jed Zayner; Robbie Rogers, Adam Moffat (Emmanuel Ekpo 69’), Brian Carroll, Eddie Gaven, Steven Lenhart (Jason Garey 74’), Guillermo Barros Schelotto.

Subs Not Used: Andy Gruenebaum, Eric Brunner, Duncan Oughton, Sergio Herrera.

Notes:
• With the win, the Galaxy are now 9-0-2 on the season, giving them 29 points. They remain alone in first place in the Western Conference and are now 13 points ahead of second place Houston, Real Salt Lake and San Jose who each have 16 points.
• LA is now nine points ahead of the Eastern Conference leading Columbus Crew, who are 6-1-2 for 20 points this season.
• Bruce Arena made two changes to the team that played to a 1-0 win against FC Dallas on May 20 in Frisco, Texas. Jovan Kirovski and Sean Franklin return to the starting XI while Franklin will earn his first start since April 17 against Real Salt Lake. They replace Chris Klein and Juninho, who missed the game due to a death in the family and is currently in Brazil.
• In addition to Juninho, the Galaxy were without Alan Gordon and Dema Kovalenko, who all missed the game through injury and Edson Buddle and Landon Donovan who are in training camp with the U.S. National Team ahead of next month’s FIFA 2010 World Cup.
• Leonardo was back in the 18-man squad for the first time since the 2-0 win over Houston on April 10 when he suffered a right quad strain. He had missed the last seven games because of the injury.
• Tristan Bowen made the second start of his MLS career in the game. He was the first player in MLS history signed directly from a club’s Youth Academy when he joined the Galaxy late in the 2008 season.
• The Galaxy have now scored first in nine of their 11 games this season, going 9-0-0 in those contests.
• The Galaxy remain the only undefeated teams in MLS with an 9-0-2 record.
• The Galaxy are now unbeaten in their last 14 regular season games, going 11-0-3 in those contests dating back to the end of the 2009 season. This is the second longest unbeaten streak in club history, with only a 15-game streak from September 1997 until May 1998 topping that mark.
• The Galaxy have allowed just two goals during this unbeaten streak and have not trailed at any point during it.
• With the victory, Bruce Arena recorded his 100th MLS victory, improving to 100-62-27 (W-L-T) all-time in the regular season. The only other coaches to reach this milestone in League history are Sigi Schmid (128), Bob Bradley (124) and Steve Nicol (100).
• Michael Stephens scored his first career MLS goal in the 10th minute, adding to his three assist thus far in 2010. The Galaxy’s only draft pick in 2010, Stephens took a single touch before blasting a volley past the Crew’s Hesmer
• Chris Brichall and Jovan Kirovski earned their first assists of the season combining on the goal by Stephens.
• Tristan Bowen scored his first career MLS goal tonight with an assist from Chris Klein in the 87th minute to seal the win.
• Omar Gonzalez and AJ DelaGarza were each booked in the first half for LA. It was DeLaGarza’s second yellow card of the year and Gonzalez’ fourth, which will result in a one-game suspension following his next yellow card.
• In the second half, Chris Birchall and Todd Dunivant each were booked earning them their third and first cautions, respectively.
• Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts made four saves for his eigth clean sheet in ten games this season. Ricketts now has an MLS-best 0.20 goals against average, allowing just two goals in 900 minutes of action.
• The shutout was the Galaxy’s fifth straight and ninth in 11 games this season. The Galaxy have not allowed a goal in the last 456 minutes of play dating back to May 1.
• The win was the Galaxy’s first in Columbus since a 2-1 victory on September 30, 2007 when Troy Roberts and Kyle Martino each found the back of the net.
• The attendance for today’s game was 18,139.
• The Galaxy are back in action on Saturday evening when they host the Houston Dynamo at The Home Depot Center. The game kicks off at 5 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on Galavision in Spanish and tape delayed at 10 p.m. on FS West in English. Additionally, the game will be available on the radio in English on KTLK 1150 AM and in Spanish on ESPN Deportes Radio KWKW 13300 AM.
• For more about today’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.