Galaxy falls to St. Louis City

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis City rode goals by newcomers Cedric Teuchert and Marcel Hartel to a 2-1 victory over the Western Conference-leading Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday.

Teuchert staked St. Louis City (5-10-12) to a 1-0 lead in the 9th minute when he scored his second goal in his third career start and appearance in the league.

The Galaxy (15-6-7) pulled even in the first minute of the second half when Gabriel Pec took a pass from Miguel Berry and scored with a left-footed shot from the center of the box. It was the 11th goal of the season for Pec and the first assist for Berry, who subbed in for Diego Fagúndez to begin the half.

St. Louis City regained the lead in the 68th minute on Hartel’s first goal in his second start and appearance in the league. Hartel had three assists in a 4-4 draw with the Portland Timbers in his debut last week. Rookie defender Jayden Reid notched his third assist on the score.

“I thought we started game not really matching the intensity of the game but understanding coming out of the locker room, what we said is we’ve got to manage wisely the first 10, 15 minutes playing for their life,” said Galaxy coach Greg Vanney. “They are at home. They are a pressing team in general, and they are going to come out and create some problems for you, understand early on. We were not at the right speed of things.”

Roman Bürki finished with five saves for St. Louis City. Bürki saved three shots in the first half to keep the Galaxy off the scoreboard.

John McCarthy turned away three shots for the Galaxy, who saw a three-match win streak end.

St. Louis City, which won the Western Conference regular-season title as an expansion team last season, and the Galaxy had met three previous times with all three ending in draws.

LA falls to 5-5-4 on the road, losing three of the last four away from home. The Galaxy entered play 11-1-5 in matches where Fagúndez starts.

St. Louis City travels to play the New England Revolution on Saturday. The Galaxy return to action on Sept. 14 when they host Los Angeles FC.