The San Jose Earthquakes snapped out of a four-game losing streak with a tie at home against the New England Revolution on June 13. The game at Avaya Stadium marked the first meeting between the two teams this season.

The Quakes were able to take control of the game early on with Danny Hoesen having a close attempt 10 minutes into the match. Hoesen was able to finish on his next attempt and San Jose took a 1-0 lead over the Revolution in the 17th minute of the match. Hoesen received a forward ball from Florian Jungwirth, and he ran it straight downfield towards the opposing goal. With defenders closing in on both his left and right side, Hoesen takes a touch and shoots the ball low and hard into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal, beating Revolution’s goalkeeper Matt Turner.

New England’s Diego Fagundez answered back and brought the Revolution level again with the Quakes in the 31st minute of the match. New England received a free kick outside of the 18-yard box after the Quakes gave up a foul and Fagundez took the kick. He was able to place the ball, above the four-man wall that Andrew Tarbell set up, into the top left corner of the goal which was out of Tarbell’s reach.

The Revolution was able to pull ahead when Cristian Penilla was able to score right before halftime in the 44th minute of the game. Fagundez played the ball forward to the left side where Penilla was able to run, and he meets it outside of the 18-yard box. Nick Lima faced up against Penilla who cut inside to his right to create space away from Lima, and he shot it in the top right corner of the goal beating Tarbell again.

Five minutes after the start of the second half the Earthquakes found themselves on the attack again with a through ball being played deep towards the right-hand corner flag. Lima chased down the ball and centered it on his first touch perfectly for Hoesen, who headed the ball into the bottom corner of the goal, scoring his second goal of the night and ninth goal of the season.

After what was a heartbreaking last-minute loss against LAFC the previous weekend, something seems to have changed in the way the Earthquakes faced games, and it was clearly seen in this game. From the first whistle of the match, San Jose was on the attack and was putting pressure on quickly and without stopping. Having control at the beginning of the first half and being able to get on the scoreboard quickly gave a better result than trying to rely on counter attacks.

This same enthusiasm and effort weren’t easily deterred either even after going down a goal late in the first half. Right out of the gate San Jose was able to keep pressing, and they became leveled again without making a careless mistake while defending. If it was the style of coaching or the players themselves changing their mentality, then something has changed for the San Jose Earthquakes. With the midpoint of the season right around the corner, the second half of the season should be something to keep your eyes on.