The Oakland Roots could not overcome Charlie Dennis’ red card and conceded three second-half goals and fall 3-1 to LA Galaxy II at Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles.
Oakland and LA played a rather even first half, but the game turned when Dennis picked up his second yellow card of the match on a reckless challenge on Los Dos’ Rémi Cabral.
The Galaxy quickly looked to take advantage of being a man-up. Owen Lambe crossed a beautiful ball into Cabral to get LA’s first goal.
Five minutes later, Los Dos’ Cameron Dunbar doubled the lead.
The Roots would’ve been in even more dire straights if it wasn’t for the stellar play of goalie Paul Blanchette who made ten saves on the evening.
In the 88th minute, the Roots breathed some life into the game when Juan Azócar stuck a shot from distance that pulled Oakland back into the game.
However, one minute later, Preston Judd scored on a breakaway for LA to claim the three points.
The victory allowed Galaxy II to jump into a playoff position in the USL Championship while Oakland sits in 9th place. Although they are only a point behind New Mexico in the standings, they have six games in hand over the Roots.
Next up for Oakland is a match against their NorCal rivals, the Sacramento Republic, on July 9.
