San Diego, CA
Loons Hand San Diego First Home Loss of 2026 | Minnesota United FC
Tonight saw your intrepid Loons stake their claim in America’s Finest City (it is really called that, apparently), the second in a string of West Coast matchups that have panned out in Minnesota’s favor. It was a late kickoff for us Central Time folk, but the boys on the road hit the pitch with energy to spare.
An early Pereyra attempt ramped up the momentum early, demonstrating the visitors’ attacking mentality right off the bat. The first stretch of the match saw the Black and Blue push forward with extra numbers before falling back to fend off San Diego in the defensive third, then settling into a mid- to low-block that balanced their defensive acumen with a respectable amount of possession.
The home team was the first on the scoreline, however, with Luca Bombino’s powerhouse left-footed strike from the center off some nice combo play by Lewis Morgan and Anders Dreyer. Keeper Drake Callender shut down Onni Valakari’s shot just minutes later, a crucial save that kept the Loons in the game and helped drive their tangible push for the equalizer.
Their efforts were rewarded when Nectarios Triantis and Owen Gene combined in the midfield to get a killer ball up to Tomás Chancalay on the left. With the reliably sharp, collected air we’ve come to expect from the Argentine, Chancalay sent it into the box for Kyle Duncan to head home with his first goal in the Black and Blue.
Half an hour into play, Minnesota fans held their breath as Anders Dreyer made a big run into the box and Callender came off the line to intercept. When the ball kept rolling, Callender launched himself back to snatch it just before it crossed the line. It was truly one of the most heart-stopping moments of the night, and Callender doubled down with another big save just a minute later.
Minnesota pushed hard for another chance, with Pereyra, Triantis, and Gene working overtime in the midfield to progress the ball. Gene’s soaring service in the 40th found Anthony Markanich for a low header into the box, where Yeboah was waiting to drive it home and put the Loons up one going into the half.
When the action kicked back off in the second half, McVey collided with Nicolás Romero and picked up his second yellow of the match, putting the home team down a man (for the fourth game in a row!). Though the short-handed Chrome and Azul would still create plenty of chances, timely clearances by Jefferson Diaz and Romero kept them out of the net.
Despite outnumbering the opponent, the Loons spent a large part of the second half defending deep, trying to hold off an increasingly pushy San Diego side. Minnesota engineered several counter-attack opportunities, but weren’t able to capitalize on them. A pair of Pereyra corners were shut down by the San Diego defense, and Coach Knowles sent in a pair of subs to solidify the defense for the home stretch: Wil Trapp and Devin Padelford for Gene and Romero, respectively,
Pereyra’s 69th-minute challenge of Aníbal Godoy earned him a yellow and gave Anders Dreyer a free kick at a dangerous point in the match, but Minnesota turned it around and kept pushing. The two determined Western contenders entered a push and pull for a long stretch leading into the last 20 minutes.
Dreyer found another critical free kick opportunity with 10 minutes left on the clock, but Callender once again rose (or dove) to the occasion and knocked it away to maintain the Loons’ lead. Bongokuhle Hlongwane and Momo Dieng replaced Pereyra and Yeboah in the 83rd, bringing a fresh injection of energy right before perhaps the most stressful moment of the night.
A handball by Trapp in minute 90 led to the third of Dreyer’s big free kick chances just outside the box, but the Danish international once again failed to yield results as his shot went wide. Seven minutes of stoppage had the Loons fighting to hold onto their lead, with Dieng logging two attempts on goal but coming up short. Callender, in true Man of the Match fashion, knocked away a soaring Hail Mary shot by Dreyer in the 90’+7 to secure the victory for the Black and Blue.
Overall, tonight was an impressive showing for a Loons side settling into their identity under Knowles. They’ll have to work to keep the forward momentum as they dive into a packed upcoming schedule, finding ways to stay dominant late in the game while keeping the defense on lock, but all signs point to a steady upward climb for the guys who just handed San Diego their first home loss of the year.
This is the first installment in a series of stories on the history of dining out in La Jolla, how it’s changed and how it continues to evolve.
It’s hard to imagine La Jolla without its restaurants, from the lines stretching down the block at The Taco Stand to the iconic views at George’s at the Cove.
But the way La Jollans eat and where has changed dramatically since the area’s founding in the 1800s.
In this first part of the new month-long series “Dining Out,” the La Jolla Light looks at local restaurants from the 1880s (when La Jolla was first developed and settled) to the early 1920s.
“La Jolla had very few people at that time,” according to local historian Carol Olten. “There weren’t a lot of restaurants, as far as we know.”
Olten said she gets information about La Jolla’s earliest days from the diaries of local pioneer Anson Mills.
“He kept track of where he went and what he did … but he did a lot of home cooking,” she said. “So when they went to a restaurant for dinner, it was a big occasion. It was something people mainly did on holidays or … a social occasion.”
One restaurant Mills would go to — believed to be one of the first in La Jolla — was Montezuma Cottage. Olten said it is believed to have opened in 1895 near the intersection of Prospect and Jenner streets.
Mills described the restaurant as a popular eating and gathering spot for locals and tourists, Olten said. He wrote an entry about a Thanksgiving dinner there with about 60 people.
Montezuma Cottage later became known as the Seaside Inn and Ocean View restaurant. It was torn down in 1931.
Culturally, eating at a restaurant was a more formal occasion at the time, Olten said.
“You didn’t go to a restaurant just to hang out with friends like you would today. It was purposeful then,” she said.
Around 1900, a restaurant known as the White Rabbit opened near the corner of Girard Avenue and Prospect Street. In addition to a rooftop garden, it featured a tea room, joining a national trend.
“Tea rooms went with the suffragette movement because in those days, [women] didn’t have a place to gather without an escort, so tea rooms started opening in hotels and women could go there and sit down and have a social tea or lunch,” Olten said. “La Jolla got in on the tail end of that thanks to [Green Dragon Colony founder] Anna Held and [La Jolla philanthropist] Ellen Browning Scripps.”
One of them, called The Cricket, opened in the early 1900s with white tablecloths. Olten said it was near what it is now Eddie V’s restaurant.
“It was originally part of the Green Dragon Colony … and was sold to a British woman named Daisy Mitchell,” she said. “It stayed a tea room for many years, and she kept a guest book that was decorated with reds and greens and had a medieval theme. So it was very British.”
Joining a trend toward more upscale dining, one of La Jolla’s “most well-established and well-known restaurants” opened in 1912 at 1227 Prospect St. The Brown Bear had “stylish, fashionable service and a menu to please the gods,” Olten said.
A house specialty was Welsh rabbit served in a silver chafing dish. The restaurant was in operation until 1941.
Several restaurants opened around 1915, about the same time as the Panama-California Exposition, a world’s fair-type event held in 1915-16 that brought 3.7 million people to San Diego.
One of La Jolla’s new restaurants, the Spindrift Inn, opened in 1916 and was considered a “last stop” out of town.
“Most restaurants at that time were located in the immediate Village area,” Olten said. “The one that was astray would have been the Spindrift Inn [in La Jolla Shores]. This was in the very early days of automobiles, so not very many people had cars, but those that did would … drive their cars and the last stop before you got out of town was Spindrift Inn.”
The Spindrift Inn later became The Marine Room, which still stands.
Olten said the restaurant was operated by the Hannay family for about 20 years. Their “rambunctious” fox terrier, Jiggs, would roam the dining room.
Another Expo-era restaurant was the Dining Car, which operated in an old trolley car parked near Goldfish Point. Dinner was $2 per person. It burned down on Halloween night in 1923.
Next installment: With new hotels being built in La Jolla in the 1920s came new hotel restaurants. But later, World War II would have an impact on La Jollans and San Diegans in general and on where and how they ate. ♦
Stammen challenged a safe call at second base — one that led to the Washington Nationals tying the game. Fernando Tatis Jr. threw
The Nats had chances to win last night, but they came up short. Some of the weaknesses at the back end of their roster showed up, and they lost 7-5 in a bullpen battle. Now they will look to bounce back at home against a tough Padres team.
Blake Butera has made some peculiar changes to the lineup. Clearly, he wants to go lefty heavy. The struggling Jorbit Vivas will start over Curtis Mead. Jose Tena will also be starting at DH. That means James Wood will go to right field and Dylan Crews will slide to center. Drew Millas will also be back behind the plate. Foster Griffin will be on the bump.
The Padres have a very similar lineup to last night. Rodolfo Duran will replace Freddy Fermin behind the plate. Otherwise, it is the same personnel. We saw Jackson Merrill and Fernando Tatis start to wake up, so hopefully that does not continue. Blake Butera’s college teammate, Michael King, will be on the mound.
The Nats will look to avoid going under .500 in this one. Michael King will be a good test, but this lineup has been resilient. Hopefully Foster Griffin can build on his strong outing against the Braves. If they don’t win today, those narratives about the poor home record will re-appear. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!
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