Galaxy Win Supporters' Shield

LA Galaxy 2, FC Dallas 1
Sunday, October 24, 2010
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
FCD – Atiba Harris 4 (Eric Alexander 3) 24’
LA – David Beckham 2 (Landon Donovan 16) 33’
LA – Juninho 2 (Unassisted) 46’

Misconduct Summary:
FCD – Atiba Harris (Yellow Card) 45’
LA – Landon Donovan (Yellow Card) 58’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts; Sean Franklin, A.J. DeLaGarza, Omar Gonzalez, Todd Dunivant; Juninho, Dema Kovalenko, Juninho, David Beckham (Chris Klein 89’), Landon Donovan©; Mike Magee (Jovan Kirovski 84’), Edson Buddle (Eddie Lewis 90’).

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Leonardo, Alex Cazumba, Tristan Bowen.

FC Dallas: Dario Sala; Jackson (Ugo Ihemelu 75’), Zach Loyd, George John, Jair Benitez; Atiba Harris, Dax McCarty, Eric Alexander (Eric Avila 60’), Marvin Chavez; David Ferreira©, Jeff Cunningham (Brek Shea 67’).

Subs Not Used: Kevin Hartman, Daniel Hernandez, Bruno Guarda, Milton Rodriguez.

Notes:
• With the win, the Galaxy finish the season in first place in the Western Conference and all of MLS with an 18-7-5 record for 59 points. They finished three points ahead of second place Real Salt Lake, who entered the night level with LA with 56 points apiece, though RSL had a better goal difference.
• As a result, the Galaxy win the 2010 MLS Supporters’ Shield, which is given to the team that finish the season with the best regular season record in MLS. By winning the Supporters’ Shield, the Galaxy earn home field advantage throughout the 2010 MLS Cup Playoffs and earn a spot in Group Play of the 2011/12 CONCACAF Champion League, bypassing the Preliminary Round, the stage at which LA were eliminated from the competition earlier this year.
• The Galaxy won both meetings against Dallas this season, handing them two of their four losses on the season. Dallas are one of seven teams that the Galaxy defeated twice this season.
• Bruce Arena made three changes to the team that lost 3-1 to Colorado last weekend. Todd Dunivant, Dema Kovalenko and Mike Magee all returned to the starting lineup, replacing Gregg Berhalter, Chris Birchall and Michael Stephens, none of whom dressed for the game. Berhalter and Birchall each missed the game through injury, while it was a coaches decision not to dress Stephens.
• Dunivant returned to the lineup after missing last weekend’s game with a right adductor strain, while Kovalenko had missed the last three games with the same injury.
• Chris Klein and Eddie Lewis each played the final regular season game of their MLS careers in the game, with each coming on as second half substitutes.
• David Beckham equalized for the Galaxy in the 33rd minute, scoring his second goal of the season. Beckham finished the season with two goals, matching the number that he scored in 2009.
• Landon Donovan assisted on Beckham’s goal, extending his career-high of 16 assists. His 16 assists were the most in MLS this season, three more than David Ferreira of FC Dallas.
• Donovan became the first Galaxy player in MLS history to lead the league in assists.
• His 16 assists were the most recorded by a Galaxy player in a single season since Mauricio Cienfuegos had a club record 17 assists in 1999.
• Juninho gave the Galaxy a 2-1 lead in the 46th minute with his second goal of the season.
• That goal was scored just 30 seconds after the start of the second half, making it the fastest goal that the Galaxy scored after halftime this season.
• Edson Buddle did not score in the game, meaning that he finished the season second in the race for the Budweiser Golden Boot. His 17 goals were one less than Chris Wondolowski of the San Jose Earthquakes, who had four goals in two games this week.
• Buddle’s best chance to score came in the 67th minute when his header off a David Beckham corner kick was saved by Dario Sala, diving to his left.
• This was the second time this season that the Galaxy came back to win after allowing the game’s opening goal. LA finished the season 2-6-2 when falling behind 1-0. They also beat D.C. United 2-1 on September 18 after trailing 1-0.
• Donovan Ricketts made three saves to earn his 18th win of the season.
• Ricketts finished the season with a 0.90 goals against average, which is the lowest single season GAA in Galaxy history, breaking Kevin Hartman’s former club record of 0.91, which was set in 1999. His 0.90 GAA was the third lowest in MLS this season.
• The Galaxy set a new club record by allowing just 26 goals in 30 games this season, breaking the former club record of 29 goals allowed during the 1999 season.
• By allowing Atiba Harris’ first half goal, the Galaxy have now allowed at least one goal in 10 consecutive regular season home games, dating back to May 15 against Toronto FC. The Galaxy are 5-4-1 in those 10 games and have allowed 18 goals.
• The Galaxy finished the season with a 9-4-2 record at home. LA recorded 29 of their 59 points on the season at home.
• The Galaxy are now 9-4-2 all-time in their regular season finales and 11-2-2 in their final regular season home game. This was the fourth time that LA ended their season against FC Dallas, and are now 3-0-1 in those four games, with all four being played in Southern California.
• The attendance for today’s game was 24,993.
• The Galaxy are back in action on Sunday, October 31 when they take on the Seattle Sounders FC in the First Leg of their Western Conference Semifinal Series. That game, which will be shown live on ESPN2, will be played at Qwest Field and kicks off at 5 p.m. (PT). The Galaxy will then host the second and final leg of the Series at The Home Depot Center on Sunday, November 7. That game kicks off at 6 p.m. and can also be seen live on ESPN.
• For more about today’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.