The Dynamo Reserves won their season opener Sunday morning by a 2-1 score, and assistant coach John Spencer was pleased with his side's effort in the win, especially given that it came against a team that had already played two games.
"I thought it was a good performance, the first 45 minutes especially," Spencer said. "In the second half, I thought our lack of match practice showed. Most of the guys hadn't played 90 minutes since our last reserve game in October, also against LA. But I thought it was a deserved three points."
The team's leading reserve scorer in each of the last three years, Chris Wondolowski, wore the captain's armband and opened the scoring with a 20-yard rocket to the top left corner of the net in just the fifth minute. Midfielder Stuart Holden added an impressive volley late in the first half before leaving with a nagging ankle injury.
"We scored two great goals," Spencer said. "Any time you have Stuart Holden in the team, he brings a lot of quality to the game. We subbed him out at the half with a little ankle knock because we didn't want to take any chances. It was difficult to adjust to that, and we dropped a little deeper in the second half."
Rookie goalkeeper Corbin Waller made his Dynamo debut and earned the win with several second-half saves. Two players with limited experience as central defenders, veteran Craig Waibel and rookie Geoff Cameron, anchored the middle of the back line.
Rookies James Georgeff, who has not officially been signed, and Johnny Alcaraz and newcomer Kyle Brown all made their Dynamo debuts.
Forward Guy-Roland Kpene started and played the first 62 minutes, but he will not continue training with the team, head coach Dominic Kinnear said Monday.
