Los Angeles, California (Saturday, August 19, 2023) – Real Monarchs (6-12-4, 24 points, 12th in West) earned its third consecutive result with a 0-0 road draw at Los Angeles Galaxy II in the team’s continued hunt for the seventh seed in the Western Conference.
After a short fifteen minute weather delay, the match kicked off with Real Monarchs aggressively attacking the final third as they were able to create three looks in front of goal within the first four minutes of the match. Los Angeles Galaxy II were able to hold off the flurry of Monarchs chances and quickly began to create looks of their own on the counter. In the sixth minute it looked as if Los Angeles would take the early advantage after Jonathan Pérez struck a bicycle kick inside the 18-yard-box, but goalkeeper Fernando Delgado was able to make the save.
In the 14th minute Zavier Gozo created the best chance of the first half for the Monarchs as he chipped a shot on target but the Galaxy II ‘keeper clipped the ball away. In the 21st minute Los Dos caught Real Monarchs on the counterattack with Delgado stranded alone in the six-yard-box. The young ‘keeper stood his ground, unwavering in the face of danger and absorbed Gino Vivi’s shot fired directly in front of him to prevent Los Angeles from stealing the lead. Both teams continued to exchange multiple shots in front of goal, but neither side was able to take the lead before heading into halftime at 0-0.
Real Monarchs began the second half on the forefoot, immediately threatening to score with multiple shots inside the penalty area. In his first game returning from injury, Real Salt Lake Homegrown Axel Kei was able to pick out teammate Ilijah Paul dashing down the pitch in the 46th minute allowing the Monarchs to break through the Galaxy II rearguard. Paul returned the ball to Kei unmarked in the box, but the forward was unable to capitalize on the attempt, sending the ball wide. The Monarchs created another excellent look in the 49th minute as Paul snuck past the Los Angeles defense and headed in a well placed lofted cross from Zack Farnsworth for the 1-0 lead, but the goal was dismissed after it was ruled Paul was offside.
Delgado and the Real Monarchs defense continued to impress throughout the second half as they fended off multiple looks from their opposition, preventing a total of 18 shots from finding the back of the net. As time began to expire both teams made multiple hurried substitutions in an attempt to find a late goal. In the 89th minute LA Galaxy II was awarded a free kick but was unable to capitalize on the late chance as the Monarchs backline and Delgado remained steadfast securing the 0-0 draw as full time expired, sending the match to a shootout.
Galaxy II held the advantage at the start of the shootout as Real Monarchs’ first penalty takers missed their attempts. Keller Storlie took advantage of Delgado’s two saves on Galaxy II to tie the shootout at 1-1, but neither team could find the go ahead attempt, continuing to exchange kicks from the penalty spot until both teams sat 9-9. Adrián Gonzáles converted his second shot of the shootout, handing Paul the chance to redeem himself after missing his first, but the forward was unable to convert his chance, ricocheting the ball off the crossbar handing LA Galaxy II the 10-9 shootout victory.
UP NEXT: Real Monarchs return to the City of Angels on Friday, August 25 to take on LAFC2 for the second time this season. In their previous meeting LAFC2 was able to snatch three points away from the Monarchs at Zions Bank Stadium winning 1-0. After their time in California Real Monarchs will return to the Beehive State to face Vancouver Whitecaps 2 on September 1st.
Real Monarchs (4-3-3): Fernando Delgado; Keller Storlie, Omar Alba, Delentz Pierre, Zack Farnsworth (Bobby Pierre 84’); Darón Iskenderian (Griffin Dillon 81’), Moses Neyman, Tyrone Mondi; Zavier Gozo (Gilberto Garcia 46’), Ilijah Paul, Dominic Berrios (Axel Kei 46’)
Subs not used: Owen Anderson, Derrek Chan
LA Galaxy II (4-2-3-1): Simon Jillson; Carson Klein (Allan Legaspi 78’), Marcus Ferkranus, Ascel Essengue, Riley Dalgado; Adrián González, Adam Saldaña; Jonathan Pérez, Axel Picazo (Ruben Ramos 81’), Gino Vivi, Aaron Bibout
Subs not used: Julian Placias, Sergio Villalpando, Diego Lopez, Emiliano Garcia, Aaron Cervantez, Juan Calderón, Nicolas Schelotto
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
RM: Zack Farnsworth (caution) 27’
RM: Delentz Pierre (caution) 77’
LA II: Gino Vivi (caution) 90’+3’
