Moussa Djitte and Sebastian Driussi found the net in a three-minute span of the first half and Brad Stuver made a critical save in the final moments as Austin FC held on to beat visiting FC Dallas 2-1 on Sunday in an all-Texas Western Conference semifinal.
Austin FC, the second seed in the conference, advances to play top-seeded Los Angeles FC in the West final in Los Angeles next Sunday. LAFC, the Supporters’ Shield winner for the best record in MLS’s regular season, defeated the rival Los Angeles Galaxy on Thursday to advance to the conference championship match.
Austin has defeated LAFC in both matches between the teams this season.
It was the sixth time the Lone Star State rivals have played, and the first time Austin has defeated Dallas in the two-year history of the series. The stakes were considerably higher for this match than the first five, and it was Austin — in just its second season in MLS — that was more than up to the task.
Austin rode the momentum from its raucous home crowd to dominate the match’s first 45 minutes, eventually breaking through with a pair of goals midway through the first half.
Djitte got on the board first, pouncing on the ball after it caromed off a teammate on a corner kick in the 26th minute and burying a shot into the top left corner of the net past Dallas goalkeeper Maarten Paes.
Then Driussi, one of the finalists for league MVP, gathered the ball just past midfield, dribbled it deep to the edge of the box and outmuscled Dallas defender Jose Antonio Martinez before unleashing a laser to Paes’ right in the 29th minute.
Dallas, the third seed in the West, pressed mightily early in the second half to get back in the match and was finally rewarded for its efforts on Alan Velasco’s goal in the 65th minute.
Velasco, the 20-year-old from Argentina, waited on the doorstep as teammate Franco Jara and Austin’s Alexander Ring jostled for the ball deep in the box before he eventually lifted a shot over Austin keeper Stuver into the top right corner.
But that was as close as the visitors would come, as Stuver stuck out his foot at the last instant at the far post to save a great chance by Dallas’ Jader Obrian in the 87th minute to keep Austin on top.
–Field Level Media
