Earthquakes Dominate Toronto FC 2-0 in Season Finale

The San Jose Earthquakes finished the season with a 2-0 win over Toronto FC in front of a sellout crowd of 10,526 on Saturday night at Buck Shaw Stadium. Ryan Cochrane scored for the Earthquakes in the 49th minute and Shea Salinas scored for the second straight game, netting a penalty kick to close out the game.

Frank Yallop was quite pleased with his team “It was great to finish with a win and a good performance. Overall it was a great night for us and the fans as well. When it mattered earlier this season, we couldn’t quite get it done, but tonight shows that we can play.”

He also shared his thoughts on the season overall “We had a good run in the middle part of the season, but we couldn’t finish the season out. We played the same lineup week after week and it caught up with a little bit. We didn’t sustain our play like we needed to get into the playoffs. I think we built a solid team this year though.”

On his first season in MLS, Darren Huckerby said “It was a great first season. We excelled from the position we were in and almost reached the playoffs. We had a bad stretch of three or four games that hurt us. It is a shame that we didn’t reach the playoffs, but I think we had a good run.” And the good news for Quakes fans is that he's looking ahead to next season “I am looking forward to joining the team in preseason and building something. This year it was tough to come in midseason, but next year, we will have a preseason to prepare and we will be ready come the start of the season.”

Overall the Quakes finish the season with an 8-13-9 record and 33 points. That is the highest point total for an expansion team in the last decade. They end the season tied with the Galaxy for the lowest point total on the season but I have to think the Quakes are better prepared heading into next season than the Galaxy are at this point. Frank Yallop and John Doyle will be looking tot strengthen the team and deepend the talent pool over the offseason and it should be interesting to watch.