ST. LOUIS — As San Diego prepared to take on St. Louis City FC following a runaway win over FC Dallas, the question was posed to the local team’s Oscar Verhoeven: Does momentum exist in soccer?
Does one big victory help your team’s chances?
“Yeah, for sure,” he said. “Within the team, the spirit starts to come up after a 5-0 win. There’s a little confidence in every player. For sure.”
Maybe there’s something to it.
Escondido native and San Pasqual High School grad Milan Iloski scored a goal for the second consecutive game, Anders Dreyer added a score and San Diego FC beat St. Louis City 2-1 on Saturday night.
CJ dos Santos had four saves for San Diego.
A former Orange County Soccer club star who was acquired via transfer from FC Nordsjælland in April, the 25-year-old Iloski replaced Onni Valakari in the 69th minute. The former UCLA star then opened the scoring in the 79th, blasting a shot from the edge of the area inside the left post.
San Diego (6-4-2) has won back-to-back games, including a 5-0 win over Dallas last time that snapped a three-game losing streak in which the club allowed three goals each.
St. Louis City (2-6-4) is winless in eight consecutive games, including six losses, and has been shut out four times in that span.
Dreyer scored in the 87th, capitalizing on a St. Louis turnover and beating goalkeeper Ben Lundt to make it 2-1.
Kyle Hiebert scored for St. Louis in the first minute of stoppage time.
San Diego FC will host the Colorado Rapids on Wendesday in their first midweek home game of the season, then take on Sporting Kansas City next Saturday.
U-T sports editor Ryan Finley contributed to this story.
