Loons fail to capitalise on chances, fall short to San Diego in Western Semi-Final

Another Monday night match for Minnesota United as the Loons headed to San Diego for a spot in the Western Conference Final. A tough and physical first half evolved into a back and forth second half that saw the Loons get quite a few chances. San Diego made two massive saves to prevent Minnesota from scoring. A single defensive lapse and an Anders Dryer banger sent San Diego into the Western Final and the Loons home for the winter.

After two weeks off both clubs lineups looked extremely familiar. Minnesota United had Anthony Markanich starting in place of the suspended Joseph Rosales. The second and only other change saw Jefferson Diaz swapped for Carlos Harvey, who made his return to the starting eleven for the first time since August. San Diego kept their entire lineup intact from their 4–0 thrashing of Portland Timbers.

Match 🧵 | #SDvMIN#MNUFC ‘s Starting XI has a familiar feel, with two changes from last time out. With Rosales suspended, Markanich gets the start at LWB. Carlos Harvey makes his return to the XI for the first time in three months. Diaz is available from the bench tonight.

— Northland Soccer Journal (@northlandsoccer.com) 2025-11-25T02:31:34.537Z

With two teams with polar opposite styles of play the match started exactly as thought, with San Diego holding a vast majority of the possession. Minnesota started to frustrate San Diego early, holding them without a shot in the first quarter hour. From there the physicality of the match kicked in, seeing Nectarios Triantis and Kelvin Yeboah being handed yellow cards following being called for fouls on Onni Valakari and Manu Duah respectively, before the 20th minute.

Minnesota had the first and better of the chances in the first half. Robin Lod got the first shot for either club in the 18th minute. From there MNUFC continued to just soak up pressure from San Diego, dropping their back nine deep into the box, preventing San Diego from getting any runs or real chances. Minnesota United managed two clear chances, the earlier from Lod and a later one from Bongi Hlongwane, but neither was able to find the back of the net.

MNUFC came storming out of the gate in the second half, getting multiple early chances. A key chance and a near goal came from Robin Lod. Two minutes into the half, Lod broke out on a run, cut inside on a defender to get open in the box, and hammered a perfectly place shot. Ian Pilcher charged in and made an astounding save while keeping his arms in to avoid a handball. Anthony Markanich and Kelvin Yeboah both ended up with chances to score, with neither coming through.

Twenty minutes into the half it was a momentary defensive lapse that allowed San Diego to score. Corey Baird was pushed against the end line and clipped a quick back pass to open ground. No Loons came up to gather the loose ball, which allowed Anders Dryer to get an open run and smash a hard shot through the hands of Dayne St. Clair to score.

The final fifteen minutes of football saw the Loons once again come out flying as they had to open the second half. Eric Ramsay brought on Hassani Dotson and Dominik Fitz to give the Loons some life for the last ten minutes. Minnesota managed multiple chances forcing to Sisniega to make multiple saves in order to keep the lead for the win. With the loss Minnesota’s 2025 season comes to a close, MNUFC returns to league play in February 2026 for the final spring to fall MLS season.