Joseph Paintsil recorded a goal and two assists to help the LA Galaxy earn a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Rapids on Wednesday night in Carson, California.
Diego Fagundez and Riqui Puig added goals and Gabriel Pec had two assists as the Galaxy (13-5-7, 46 points) bounced back from a 2-0 road loss to FC Dallas on Saturday.
The win, combined with a 1-1 draw between Real Salt Lake and Los Angeles FC on Wednesday, moved the Galaxy into first place in the Western Conference. The Galaxy have not lost in Carson this season; their only “home” loss came against LAFC on July 4 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
Kevin Cabral and Cole Bassett scored goals for the Rapids (11-9-5, 38 points), who fell to 5-2-1 in their last eight games.
This was just Colorado's second loss to the Galaxy since the start of the 2018 season. The Rapids have a 7-2-3 advantage during that span.
Galaxy prevailed despite being without leading scorer Dejan Joveljic (hamstring) for the second straight game.
Los Angeles goalkeeper John McCarthy made seven saves, while Colorado's Zack Steffen made six.
Neither team scored in the second half after the Galaxy led 3-2 following a very open first half.
LA opened the scoring in the 12th minute when Pec passed to Fagundez, who collected the ball on his chest, dropped it at his feet and then finished with his right foot past Steffen. It was Fagundez's fourth goal of the season.
Colorado tied the score in the 32nd minute. Jonathan Lewis had the ball to the left of the net and sent a soft pass to Cabral, who reached back with his left leg and knocked the ball past McCarthy. It was Cabral's fifth goal of the season.
The Galaxy went back ahead in the 38th minute after Pec went on a long run on his own side of the field. As he got into shooting position, he sent the ball to Paintsil, who finished with his right foot for his seventh goal of the year.
Five minutes later, LA made it 3-1 and this time it was Paintsil who provided a stellar pass. Puig received the ball and sent a right-footed shot into the side netting just inside the left post, scoring his seventh goal of the season.
The Rapids cut their deficit to one in the 10th minute of first-half stoppage time. Rafael Navarro lined up to take a penalty and McCarthy saved his shot, but Bassett headed in the rebound for his eighth goal of the campaign.
LA outscored Colorado 16-13, with both teams putting nine attempts on goal.
