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Onalfo Rues Missed Chances In Galaxy II's Defeat

By usl admin, 09/17/15, 7:45PM EDT

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USL Feature

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Entering Wednesday night’s contest, their penultimate game of the regular season, the LA Galaxy II still had hopes of a top-four finish and an outside shot at finishing in the top two in the USL’s Western Conference.

A 1-0 defeat to the Portland Timbers 2 at StubHub Center put paid to those, however, with Los Dos now only holding a slim chance at a fourth-place finish and a home playoff contest. While the side had chances to take the lead in the first half, or find an equalizer after Rundell Winchester had put T2 ahead early in the second, the side showed a lack of sharpness in front of goal as it was held scoreless for just the sixth time this season.

“I can’t fault the effort,” Galaxy II Coach Curt Onalfo said. “I thought our guys put in a really good effort tonight. I thought we performed well. We just didn’t execute in the final third. We were sharp everywhere but where it mattered most, and I told the guys at this level, when you’re an attacking player, you’ve got to produce.”

The biggest opportunities came in the second half, when Ignacio Maganto, Bryan Olivera and Ariel Lassiter all had good chances to find an equalizer, but T2 goalkeeper Justin Luthy came up with a string of good saves to record his first professional shutout.

“We had three breakaways we didn’t convert on, their goalkeeper made saves, we didn’t put them away, and then we made an error in the midfield that ended up costing us,” Onalfo said. “But that was it. We’ve qualified for the playoffs, and now it’s just a matter of who we’re going to play against, and we’ve got to go do it.”

The Galaxy II will close out the regular season against Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC on Saturday night at Sand Creek Stadium. Los Dos took a 2-1 win in the first meeting between the sides at StubHub Center on May 30 as Raul Mendiola’s stoppage-time goal earned all three points, but the Switchbacks evened the season series with a 2-0 win at Sand Creek Stadium on July 31, and will be looking for a win to move back ahead of OKC Energy FC at the top of the Western Conference standings.

“We’re going to go to a very tough place to play, but we’ll go and put in a good effort and try to get a result,” Onalfo said.

Then, it will likely be a road trip to start the playoffs in the conference quarterfinals next weekend. With seven road wins so far this season, currently the most in the Western Conference, Onalfo thinks his side might enjoy playing the role of underdog in the postseason.

“I think we’ve played well all year,” he said. “Some of the results haven’t fallen our way at times, but we’re confident, and maybe we go into the playoffs as a little bit of an underdog. That’s not the worst.”


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