One shining moment darkens Loons season in 1-0 playoff loss to San Diego

Minnesota United s defense-first battle plan was panning out almost to perfection through minutes of an MLS Western Conference semifinal in San Diego on Monday night The Loons were conceding a ton of possession time but sparse scoring chances and producing specific threats on their own counter attacks Then San Diego s do-everything attacker Anders Dreyer got space and ripped a powerful shot into the upper corner of the net in the nd minute for a - win at Snapdragon Stadium Top-seeded San Diego ended the fourth-seeded Loons season and will host second seed Vancouver in the West final on Saturday The Loons season ends in the Western Conference semifinal for a second straight year It was a little microcosm of our season head coach Eric Ramsay reported We were super competitive We were in the meeting all the way through Restricted them to very little We certainly have the better scoring chances of the competition if only by a little but have come out of the wrong side of the challenge that was decided on very fine margins Dreyer headlined the Loons scouting overview The Dane won MLS newcomer of the year with combined goals and primary assists second to only Lionel Messi this season After a scoreless opening minutes the second half heated up before play started Loons coach Eric Ramsay and SDFC coach Mikey Varas exchanged words and Ramsay shoved Varas according to Apple TV sideline reporter Andrew Wiebe Ramsay who received a yellow card Then in the re-opening stages Robin Lod cut back inside the box and had an open goal before Ian Picher made a goal-line clearance in the th minute In the th Kelvin Yeboah s breakaway attempt was cut down by SDFC backup goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega Ramsay expected San Diego was going to dominate the ball in the first half and likely have more scoring chances but they longed to avoid giving up an early goal That is what cost them against Los Angeles Galaxy in the West semifinal last year and nearly burned them in the first-round series against Seattle this season San Diego held the ball for of the match well above its MLS-leading during the regular season But Minnesota kept SDFC to zero shots on goal in the first half In the first half Lod had the Loons two best chances but his first shot in the th minute was blocked and he couldn t get enough on an attempt fed to him on a great diagonal pass from Pereyra in first-half stoppage time Ramsay made two changes to his starting XI on Monday Center back Carlos Harvey stepped in for Jefferson Diaz who has a thigh issue and left wingback Anthony Markanich came in for suspended Joseph Rosales Minnesota s front six stayed the same Lod Nectar Triantis Wil Trapp Joaquin Pereyra Bongi Hlongwane and Yeboah The two teams split the regular-season series San Diego won - in St Paul in June while Minnesota had a - preeminence in San Diego in September San Diego had possession in both games