FRISCO, Texas - Arturo Alvarez, Oscar Pareja, Aaron Pitchkolan and Abe Thompson each had a goal and an assist on Sunday as the FC Dallas Reserves knocked off San Jose 4-3 at Pizza Hut Park. San Jose twice led in the opening 45 minutes, but each time the Hoops answered. After the break Thompson and Alvarez tallied for the home side to push it to seventh place with 13 points in the Reserve League standings.
It took just 15 minutes for the Earthquakes to get on the scoreboard as Orlando Ramirez made it 1-0 for the visitors. Will Weatherly broke free down the right wing before cutting back inside a Dallas defender and playing a square ball across the top of the box for Ramirez whose first time shot beat FCD keeper Chris Gomez low to his left post, making the score 1-0 San Jose.
That goal seemed to invigorate the home side as it found an equalizer 12 minutes later through Pitchkolan. FC Dallas won a freekick in San Jose's defensive third and played it quickly to Alvarez on the left wing. He whipped a cross to the back post for Drew Moor whose powerful header was tipped off the post by Earthquakes' 'keeper Jon Conway. However, Pitchkolan was right there in the six-yard box to tap the rebound home to even the score at 1-1.
The Earthquakes were back in front in the 44th minute with Weatherly this time turning goal scorer. Ramirez's low corner from the right found Julian Nash at the front post, and he cleverly flicked the ball past two FCD defenders and right into the path of Weatherly who lashed a low shot into the net, giving Gomez no chance and making the score 2-1 San Jose.
But the Hoops would strike back once again just before the intermission as Pareja placed a right-footed volley past Conway from the center of the box, making the score 2-2. Arturo Alvarez's left wing corner was played to the back post where Pitchkolan won it with a cushioned header toward the penalty spot for Pareja to score his first goal in Reserve competition and send the game into the half on even terms.
After the break the home side wasted no time in establishing its dominance, scoring a pair of goals in the opening 15 minutes to open up a 4-2 advantage. First, in the 50th minute, Pareja won the ball in the center of the park and skipped past one would-be tackler before playing the ball to Mario Torres at the top of the box. Torres then redirected the ball into the path of Abe Thompson who calmly beat Conway with a right-footed shot to give FC Dallas its first lead of the morning.
It would double that lead 10 minutes later on the hour mark when Alvarez got in on the goal scoring against his former club. A quick interplay between Thompson and Torres just outside the box gave the latter a chance to lay the ball into the path of a streaking Alvarez who deked past one defender and slotted the ball just inside Conway's right post to make in 4-2 Dallas.
The score would stay that way until the 84th minute when, despite having defender Chris Aloisi sent off just minutes earlier for a second bookable offense, Chris Wondolowski gave the visitors a glimmer of hope. Nash got free on the left wing and sent a low ball across the face of goal for Wondolowski to one-time past Gomez to make the score 4-3.
However, it would be too little, too late as FC Dallas held on for the final six minutes of the game to pick up the three points. FC Dallas is now 4-3-1 for 13 points in the Reserve League standings with four matches left while San Jose is now 4-4-2 and one point ahead of the Hoops with 14 points.
Scoring Summary:
SJ - Orlando Ramirez (Will Weatherly) 15'
DAL - Aaron Pitchkolan (Unassisted) 27'
SJ - Will Weatherly (Julian Nash) 44'
DAL - Oscar Pareja (Aaron Pitchkolan, Arturo Alvarez) 47+
DAL - Abe Thompson (Mario Torres, Oscar Pareja) 50'
DAL - Arturo Alvarez (Mario Torres, Abe Thompson) 60'
SJ - Chris Wondolowski (Julian Nash) 84'
FC Dallas Reserves - Chris Gomez, Chris Gbandi, Drew Moor, Clarence Goodson (Alex Woods 63'), John Pulido, Ty Maurin, Oscar Pareja (Frank Bernal 71'), Aaron Pitchkolan, Arturo Alvarez, Mario Torres, Abe Thompson.
SUBS NOT USED: Matt Clark, Freddy Garcia.
San Jose Reserves - Jon Conway, Brett Rodriguez, Chris Aloisi, Ryan Cochrane (Matt Upton 64'), Noah Merl, Will Weatherly, Aaron Lanes, Chris Wondolowski, Orlando Ramirez, Ian Russell (Brian Farbe 14'), Julian Nash.
SUBS NOT USED: Robbie Fulton.
Misconduct Summary:
SJ - Orlando Ramirez (yellow) 17'
SJ - Chris Aloisi (yellow) 40'
SJ - Chris Aloisi (yellow) 75'
SJ - Chris Aloisi (red) 75'
