It’s still too early in the 2015 season to dwell on missed chances. But Chris Pontius know he’s already had his share.
It wasn’t the only motivation for fighting through his defender to nod home the late, lone goal in D.C. United’s 1-0 win over the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night. It’s also part of his role and his dedication to his teammates to claw and scrape until the final moment to get United back on the right track.
“We asked ourselves to have a response after a bad loss in New York,” Pontius said afterward. “We came out in the first 15-20 minutes, and it was a completely different game.”
That was the mentality that Head Coach Ben Olsen and the players themselves had sought. In 2014, the Black-and-Red suffered consecutive defeats only once after the first two games of the season. On four of five other occasions, United bounced back from a loss with an immediate victory.
Pontius, who missed a penalty kick against the Red Bulls six days earlier, epitomized that determination against the Galaxy, creating multiple chances before capitalizing late.
“I thought Chris was working too hard last week on the defensive end,” Olsen said. “Tonight he was in good spots and constantly threatening the back line. As the season goes he will start to do better with those other opportunities.”
The most important opportunity against the Galaxy came in the game’s 93rd and final minute. While the visitors were content to take one point back to the West Coast, United continued to press.
After Conor Doyle fearlessly challenged Galaxy goalkeeper Brian Rowe, Davy Arnaud dropped a ball just in front of the end line for Nick DeLeon, who popped it up and past Robbie Rogers before lofting it toward the back post.
“I believe Conor got rocked pretty hard by the goalie,” DeLeon said. “The ball came back out to Davy, who played the through ball to me, then I just played it across to Pontius for the win.”
Pontius had to peel back and around Galaxy defender Dan Gargan before launching himself and redirecting the ball into the bottom left corner.
His third career goal against the Galaxy gave him his first victory over the Western Conference rival.
“That penalty kick [in New York] didn’t feel good, obviously,” Pontius said. “Like I said, short term memory. I was just focused on the team today. Throughout the game today we were breaking out in the second half, and we just weren’t clean enough. You need to take care of yourself, that’s rustiness of early in the season, but it’s nice to get one at the end of the game and get a win.”
