(East Los Angeles, CA) [From The Editor’s Desk]: The third encounter of one of the fiercest rivalry matches in the MLS, between the Los Angles Football Club and the L.A. Galaxy, resulted in a resounding victory for LAFC as it dominated the match and once again fans saw their top goal-maker, the highly respected and much-appreciated #99/Dénis Bouanga, put on yet another show of strength, athleticism, and tour de force during his team’s winning performance against the City of Carson-based Galaxy, by the final score of (4-2).

With the win, the Black & Gold picked up three very important points to add to their 2nd place status in the MLS’ Western Conference standings up to this point in the long season. There are still some (6) matches remaining in the season and Head Coach, Steve Cherundolo, certainly has his team peaking at just the right time, from mid September to the final few games in October. Let’s now give a read to the recap as prepared by the Club’s Communications Staff.

The Los Angeles Football Club snapped its three-game losing streak with a convincing 4-2 win over the rival LA Galaxy on Saturday night in front of a capacity crowd of 22,132 at BMO Stadium.

Bouanga scored on either side of halftime, including the game-winning goal in the 75th minute, giving him 27 goals in all competitions this year and moving him into a three-way tie for the MLS goal-scoring lead. Ryan Hollingshead scored for the third straight home game just before halftime, and Timothy Tillman rounded out the win with an 84th-minute strike.

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With the win, LAFC is now alone in second place in the MLS Western Conference with a (12-9-7) record for (43) points. With six matches remaining in the regular season, the club is now six points behind St. Louis CITY for first place with a game in hand.

[NEWS & NOTES]

• LAFC finishes the season with a 2-1-0 record against the Galaxy in MLS, having also won 3-2 on the road on April 16. LAFC is now 6-6-5 in MLS play against the Galaxy, including three straight wins at BMO Stadium.
• LAFC is now 11-0-2 when scoring first in MLS play this season. Over the past two seasons, under head coach Steve Cherundolo, LAFC is 28-1-2 when scoring first in the regular season.
• Goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau made his first appearance for LAFC since suffering an injury the 2022 MLS Cup 315 days ago. He made five appearances with LAFC2 in MLS Next Pro prior to tonight’s appearance.
• Denis Bouanga scored twice for LAFC, giving him 14 goals in MLS play and 27 goals in all competitions in 2023. His 14 goals leave him tied with Atlanta’s Giorgos Giakoumakis and Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar for the MLS lead in goals.
• This was Bounaga’s second-career multi-goal game against the Galaxy, having also scored twice against them in the 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs.
• Bouanga’s goals snapped a run of six straight league games without a goal for him dating back to July 8 against San Jose.
• Carlos Vela assisted on each of LAFC’s first two goals, giving him 10 assists in the league this season. This is the fourth time in his six seasons with LAFC that he has reached double figures in assists. He is the fourth active MLS player with four or more seasons of 10+ assists, joining Seattle’s Nico Lodeiro, FC Cincinnati’s Luciano Acosta and New England’s Carles Gil.
• Vela, who is the 14^th player to record 10 or more assists in MLS play this season.
• Ryan Hollingshead scored his fourth goal of the season late in the first half. He has now scored in each of his last three games at BMO Stadium, having also scored against Colorado (August 23) and Inter Miami (September 3.) Hollingshead is now third on the team in goals this season behind just Bouanga and Vela.
• Timothy Tillman rounded out the scoring for LAFC in the 84^th minute. That was his first MLS goal since March 25. He is now tied with Stipe Biuk and Mateusz Bogusz for fourth on the team in regular season goals.
• Diego Palacios was credited with an assist on Bouanga’s opening goal while Giorgio Chiellini and Mario Gonzalez were each credited with an assist on Tillman’s goal. Those were the first assists of the season for all three players while for Gonzalez it was the first assist of his MLS career.
  

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LAFC and St. Louis will meet on Wednesday, September 20th at CITYPARK. That game will kick off at 5:30 p.m. PT and will be broadcast on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, and 980 AM.