AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Dennis Bouanga had two goals and an assist on Sunday night, helping Los Angeles FC beat Austin FC 4-1 and win its third straight game in the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs.
LAFC won the first leg 2-1will face second-seeded Vancouver in a one-game Western Conference semifinal.
Son Heung-min added a goal and an assist for third-seeded LAFC. Jeremy Ebobisse, who replaced Son in the 88th minute, scored a goal in the third minute of stoppage time.
Son hesitated to freeze defender Irie Sanchez at the top of the area during a counter-attack before bursting towards the left end line and firing a shot inside the back post from the corner of the six-yard box to take the lead in the 21st minute. About four minutes later, Son fed Bouanga with a finish (the 30-year-old’s 100th goal in all LAFC games) into a wide-open net to make it 2-0.
Bouanga cut inside, evaded defender Brendan Hynes-Ike who was on the ground, and fired a shot into the net from the left of the center of the area in the 44th minute.
Bouanga is the only active player and one of only nine players in history to score at least 10 goals in the MLS Cup Playoffs in his career.
LAFC’s Hugo Lloris (second in MLS with 12 shutouts in the regular season) made three saves, including a diving stop on Milt Uzuni’s penalty kick after a handball from Bouanga in the area in the 39th minute.
Ryan Porteous was shown a yellow card for a foul in the area, but Dani Pereira converted a penalty six minutes into second-half stoppage time to make it 3-1 at half-time.
CJ Foudley appeared to have cut the lead against sixth-seeded Austin to 3-2 in the 71st minute, but his intended goal was ruled out for offside.
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