SDFC snap 10-match winless spell, dominate Austin FC 5-0

SDFC’s five-score goal party snapped the club’s lengthy league winless streak, routing Austin FC 5-0 at Snapdragon Stadium on Wednesday night with four different goal scorers on the scoresheet.

Coming into the match, SDFC’s recent performances had improved, but the winless streak still grew to ten matches in all competitions, ending their last two games in back-to-back draws. 

Last season’s meetings belonged to the hosting team, with the two clubs splitting the series at a home win apiece.

SDFC dominated the first 45 minutes of this meeting, netting two goals within the opening 17 minutes as David Vazquez and Anders Dreyer lifted the team to a 2-0 scoreline going into the halftime break.

For the opening score, Marcus Ingvartsen and Onni Valakari connected in and around the penalty box, leading to a low driven cross met by the sliding David Vazquez touch that crossed the goalline after bouncing off Austin FC defender Jon Gallagher, giving SDFC the 1-0 lead at the eight-minute mark. 

Dreyer doubled up SDFC’s advantage on the night in the 17-minute, at the end of a grounded through ball from midfielder Pedro Soma. Dreyer, inside the box, chopped back onto his preferred left foot and curled a left-footed shot around Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver and into the left side netting for the 2-0 lead.

The score marked Dreyer’s sixth goal of the 2026 MLS season, as Soma’s assisting pass recorded his first goal contribution of the season.

The first half saw SDFC lead the game with 66% possession, letting off 13 total shots with five shots on goal. 

SDFC goalkeeper Duran Ferree wasn’t let off easy in the first 45-minutes, as he made a goal-saving leg block in the 14-minute to keep out a Facundo Torres inside the box shot and keep Austin FC off the board. 

The attacking pressure continued for the home side, with Pedro Soma joining the San Diego goal fest in the 54-minute, picking out the far-right bottom corner with a blistering low-driven shot from outside the box. 

A match to remember for Soma, netting in his first MLS goal of the year. A shining performance for the 19-year-old finishing his night in the 66-minute with a goal & assist against Austin FC.

SDFC kept their foot on the gas, as for the third straight match, Marcus Ingvartsen found the back of the net, this time in the 79-minute with defender Luca Bomino finding Ingvartsen near the goal area, ending in the scoring touch of SDFC’s top scorer in 2026 to make the match 4-0. 

Ingvartsen moved his league goal tally to nine on the season.

David Vazquez sealed the blowout win with a fifth SDFC goal in the 90+1-minute, being left unmarked in the attacking half as he dribbled into the penalty area and tucked in a left-footed shot blasting into the right side netting to record his brace.

The full-time whistle at Snapdragon Stadium blew at that 5-0 scoreline, with SDFC ending the night with four different goal scorers. 

The victory over Austin FC put an end to SDFC’s winless run, which spanned 10 games across all competitions. During the run, SDFC tasted defeat six times, as they settled for four draws.

At the post-match press conference following the 5-0 win over Austin FC, SDFC head coach Mikey Varas talked on the progression of his squad and the recent performances leading to their Wednesday night victory. 

“I think this was building little by little, the performances were getting better and better, and we had to scrape out a couple of points in the last two.”

“But you could feel that the group was building momentum and that's a credit to the guy's commitment to who we are, the work rate that they have to prepare matches and to try to go after each one.”

“We've had trouble closing games. I think it was more of a group mentality thing. When things don't go your way, and then all of a sudden you have something going your way, it's natural sometimes to start to feel a little bit of pressure at the end.”

“Win, lose, or draw, let's do that, being who we are. And that means we keep being proactive in our game. We keep playing the game, and we don't try to do something different. And I think today was just a game where you could feel that they really took that to heart.”

It's SDFC's first win since March 11, defeating Deportivo Toluca F.C. 3-2 at Snapdragon Stadium in the first leg of the Round of 16 in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. 

As for the MLS, it's the Chrome & Azul's first league victory since March 7, where they took a 1-0 home win over Sporting Kansas City.

Duran Ferree claimed the clean sheet between the sticks for SDFC, the first time they have kept the opponent off the scoreboard in 12 games. 

SDFC returns to Snapdragon Stadium this Saturday at 6:30 p.m. for the second match of a three-game homestand, hosting Eastern Conference side Cincinnati FC on Anders ‘El Paletero’ Bobblehead Night.