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Ryan Hollingshead’s late goal lifts LAFC over New York City FC

March 2, 2025

Los Angeles FC defender Eddie Segura heads the ball against the New York City FC during the first half of an MLS match at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, on Saturday, March 1, 2025. Los Angeles FC won 1-0. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)

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LOS ANGELES — A win is a win, but four games into its 2025 campaign, the Los Angeles Football Club has made a habit of playing nail-biters.

Last weekend it was a 1-0 Major League Soccer regular season-opening victory against Minnesota.

On Tuesday, it was a 1-0 clincher over Colorado to advance in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

And Saturday at BMO Stadium, it was yet another 1-0 result to snatch LAFC’s first-ever victory over New York City FC.

Ryan Hollingshead’s goal in the 86th minute was his 30th in regular season play, tying the fullback with Graham Zusi for the most in MLS by a defender since 2010.

“To be in this league as long as I’ve been in this league and be able to get in front of goal as many times as I have is really exciting,” Hollingshead said. “I know I’ve been chasing Graham for a while and it’s been the talk for the last two years, so I gotta put it in the rear-view at some point. We’re getting closer.”

Since joining LAFC in 2022, Hollingshead has 12 regular season goals. His total of 30 ranks fourth all-time for career regular season goals from a defender, chasing Brek Shea (35), Atiba Harris (31) and Zusi (31).

The 33-year-old fullback entered the match on the left side in the 61st minute when LAFC made a series of changes, including to its formation, adjusting from a 5-2-3 to a 4-3-3 to make space and find a goal against New York, which kept the Black & Gold quiet through much of the first hour.

For the first time this year, LAFC began a match with three center backs and a pair of wing backs on the backline, including debut starts for Yaw Yeboah and Nkosi Tafari.

Hollingshead’s game-winning action materialized when Ukrainian defender Artem Smolyakov, making his LAFC and MLS debut as a substitute in the 76th minute, kicked off the sequence with a pass to Olivier Giroud.

Entering at the same moment as Smolyakov, Giroud replaced Jeremy Ebobisse, who also started for LAFC on opening day. Giroud dished the ball out wide to Denis Bouanga, giving his fellow Frenchman room to deliver a cross that just evaded the long center forward as well as winger David Martinez.

The ball bounced in the box in front of Hollingshead, who struck a one-time volley that split the legs of NYCFC goalkeeper Matt Freese.

“Ollie and David made great runs to the near post,” Hollingshead said. “The entire defense follows them. I’m squeaking in. If it squeaks through I’m there.

“I’m always one step ahead of maybe where Steve would want me to be. So sometimes that works out well for me, sometimes not so well. In these moments I’m attacking I can get on the right side of my winger and as soon as the play develops, I’m already a step ahead of him to get in the box. So picking and choosing the right moments to get in the area and to find my chances is where I’ve made my money.”

Freese made four saves for NYCFC (0-1-1, 1 point).

LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris stopped three shots for his third consecutive clean sheet. They have yet to concede during the run of play. The two goals LAFC did allow came during the club’s first match in freezing Denver on a penalty and a free kick.

“If you’re not pumping goals out then you need to work defensively,” Cherundolo said. “You need to keep games close. Maintaining the balance of this game is something that is very important to me. Just being lopsided and being an offensive powerhouse to me isn’t enough. Obviously we’d like to create more chances and not have just a one-goal cushion, but if that is not happening, then you cannot fall asleep and cut corners on the other side of the ball.”

LAFC (2-0-0, 6 points) joined MLS in 2018 with an ambitious attacking agenda under head coach Bob Bradley.

Upon taking the job in 2022, Cherundolo has focused on a defensive approach that resulted in fewer fireworks but more sustained success.

“If I handed you my 75-page philosophy of this game, it would be well-balanced,” Cherundolo said. “That’s pretty much what it comes down to. Understanding that controlling matches is very important, but you can control matches with and without the ball. And our players here at LAFC need to understand how to do that in all phases of the game.

“We don’t concede many goals in transition. We score a lot in transition. We score in the run of play. We don’t concede out of the run of play, which means to me my players understand how to act in each phase of the game and that’s very important in this game. If you can maintain that while staying healthy and physically fit you’ll win a lot of games.”

Ryan Hollingshead’s late goal lifts LAFC over New York City FC Orange County Register

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Ryan Hollingshead’s late goal lifts LAFC over New York City FC

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