Colorado Rapids forward Conor Casey scored a hat trick, which included the second fastest goal in MLS history, leading Colorado past the Los Angeles Galaxy to a 3-2 victory on Saturday night at The Home Depot Center.
Casey -- whose first career hat trick came last season in a 5-4 win against New York -- scored just 16 seconds into the game, second behind only Dwayne De Rosario, who scored 11 seconds into a match between San Jose and Dallas on Sept. 27, 2003.
He then scored twice in the second half after the Galaxy gained the lead through goals on either side of halftime from rookie Omar Gonzalez -- his first career goal -- and Alan Gordon, and after the home side was left a man down following the ejection of Dema Kovalenko.
Casey's historic goal began with a poor opening kickoff by Gordon. It missed Eddie Lewis, who sprinted toward the sideline to save the ball from going out of bounds. In doing so, Lewis slid and kept the ball in bounds but sent it directly to Ugo Ihemelu, who immediately fired the ball into space past the Galaxy's back line down the right sideline.
Rapids forward Omar Cummings beat Galaxy defender Tony Sanneh to the ball and sent a rolling cross past Galaxy defender Gonzalez and diving goalkeeper Josh Saunders. Casey did the easy part of tapping the ball into an open goal for the 1-0 lead and a little bit of MLS history.
The Galaxy missed several instances to score in the first half. In the 19th minute when Lewis, in his first game back from a hamstring injury, launched a ball into the box that Gordon couldn't connect with. And in the 23rd minute, Kyle Patterson's bicycle kick from steps outside the box caused a handball infraction by Rapids midfielder Pablo Mastroeni. That play set up dangerous free kick from Landon Donovan that only smacked straight into Colorado's wall.
The Galaxy still knotted the game up at 1-1 in the 37th minute on a corner kick from Donovan to Gonzalez. The rookie defender leaped high into the air to head the ball past goalkeeper Preston Burpo for his first professional goal after he was selected No. 4 overall in January's SuperDraft out of the University of Maryland.
The second half got off to a furious start, with two goals scored within the first five minutes. The Galaxy got on the board first on a goal from Gordon in the 48th minute. Sean Franklin created the play, dribbling past one man on his way to the box and then splitting two defenders on a short pass to Donovan in the penalty area, who fed the ball to Gordon. All Gordon had to do was tap it into the empty net.
Colorado responded in the 49th minute when Cummings and Casey hooked up again. Set free down the right side on a through ball from Mehdi Ballouchy, Cummings fired a cross to Casey, who slammed it past Saunders to tie the game at 2-2.
From that point the game got physical and, subsequently, a bit sloppy. Kovalenko was sent off with a straight red card from referee Michael Kennedy after a hard foul against Ballouchy that resulted in Kovalenko's ejection. Casey and Ballouchy were then hit with yellow cards in the 63rd and 66th minute, respectively.
Casey's third goal, which proved to be the game-winner, came in the 84th minute on a pass from midfielder Colin Clark. After stealing the ball from Sean Franklin, Clark slipped the ball behind the Galaxy defense for Casey, who dribbled in open space toward the goal and beat Saunders one-on-one for the score.
The Galaxy and Rapids will meet again on Tuesday night at The Home Depot Center in a U.S. Open Cup play-in game.
Simon Jude Samano is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
