AUSTIN, Texas — Diego Rubio and Jáder Obrian scored first-half goals and Brad Stuver notched his second straight clean sheet as Austin FC blanked the Galaxy 2-0 on Saturday.
John McCarthy stopped three shots for the Galaxy (5-2-3), who entered play having won four of its last five matches to move to the top of the Western Conference.
Austin won by holding Dejan Joveljić and Riqui Puig in check. Joveljić entered play with three goals and three assists in five career appearances – one start – against the club. Puig had two goals and an assist in two career starts against Austin.
The Galaxy scored 21 goals in their first nine matches, with 13 coming in the second half. LA was shut out for the first time this season and falls to 3-2-1 on the road.
Austin (4-3-3) jumped in front in the 7th minute when Rubio took a through ball from Obrian and drilled a right-footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom-left corner of the net. It was Rubio’s third goal of the season and the second assist for Obrian.
Obrian made it 2-0 in the 19th minute with his second netter of the campaign. Obrian used an assist from Alexander Ring on a fast break to send a right-footed shot from the right side of the box to the bottom-left corner.
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Stuver finished with four saves – three in the first half – for the Verde, which has won four of its last five matches. Stuver has posted three shutouts this season.
Austin picked up its second victory over the Galaxy, improving to 2-4-1 in the all-time series.
The Galaxy heads to Seattle to take on the Sounders on May 5.