San Diego FC beats Portland Timbers in their first ever MLS playoff match

San Diego Football Club hosted their first ever playoff match in their inaugural season against the Portland Timbers over the weekend.

SAN DIEGO (KYMA) - San Diego came into the match as the number one seed in the Western Conference, setting the record for most points by a team in their first ever season.

After playing in front of a sold out crowd, SDFC midfielder Luca de la Torre described how it felt to capitalize on the season's positive momentum, along with some help from the fans.

"The atmosphere was amazing...really really proud of the group, the performance, the win, after we've playing so well all season to do it when it really mattered it means so much to us," said de la Torre.

San Diego was without their star player Hirving "Chucky" Lozano after reports came out that he started a verbal altercation in the locker room earlier this month.

"We had a situation that we've been handling internally and we said we would take it day by day, week by week," said SDFC manager Mikey Varas.

According to Varas, Lozano is expected to be back soon after having a positive response in training.

Even with the star player's absence, San Diego was able to strike first in the 23rd minute.

After a shot hit the post, it landed at the feet of Onni Valakari who buried it into the back of the net and put San Diego up 1-0.

After the game, Varas says he was pleased with how his team started the match.

"I think that the team came out with tremendous focus and concentration, playing at a very high tempo, very collective in nature, really compact, when we were compact and we played at a high tempo, I think it was very difficult for Portland," Varas says.

Seven minutes after the first goal, Luca Bombino would cross the ball into the box, where he found Anders Dreyer who put San Diego up 2-0.

Dreyer, an MLS MVP finalist, describes the emotion of being able to score on such a historic night for the club.

"I'm so happy that we win at home and I score at home as well. I'm so happy for that, I love the fans here, and it's amazing and a full house like this it's different compared to Europe," he said.

Before the first half came to an end, Timbers' forward Kristoffer Velde received the ball in the box and beat SDFC goalkeeper CJ dos Santos to make the score 2-1 San Diego.

In the second half, Portland left-back Jimer Fory would receive a red card leaving them down to ten men, and allowing SDFC to cruise to a 2-1 victory.

Varas shared the team's mentality following their first ever playoff win.

"A lot of hunger, you know, we talk a lot about being humble and hungry, and right now...the job is not done. This is a great first step and our whole focus now is being ready for game two," Varas says.

San Diego FC will need to win one of their next two games to move on to the next round of the playoffs. They play the Timbers in Portland once again on Saturday.