Marcel Hartel Has a Hand in All Three Goals as St. Louis CITY SC Beat 10-Man LA Galaxy 3-1

Marcel Hartel spent Wednesday night at Dignity Health Sports Park doing a little bit of everything. He whipped in the corner for the opener, buried a long-range strike for the second, and slipped the pass in behind for the third. When a midfielder touches all three of your team's goals, it is not really a team effort anymore. It is a solo album with backup vocals.

St. Louis CITY SC beat the LA Galaxy 3-1 in Carson, a result the club said extended its unbeaten streak to seven matches across all competitions. St. Louis also remains unbeaten against the Galaxy in seven straight matches, per the club, and has now won back-to-back visits to this stadium.

Two Goals in the Blink of an Eye

The Galaxy had reasons to feel good early. JT Marcinkowski made a double save in the seventh minute, first on a Hartel shot from distance and then on Simon Becher from the centre of the box, and play was briefly stopped for an injury to him before he carried on. From there the hosts settled in, with Joseph Paintsil firing over in the 30th minute and Miki Yamane pulling a shot wide in the 37th.

Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney liked what he saw in that stretch. "Felt like we were in control of things and we were recovering things in good areas," he said afterward, per the Galaxy.

Then the floor gave way. Marcinkowski saved another Becher effort in the 41st minute, St. Louis won back-to-back corners, and on the second one Hartel's delivery found Lukas MacNaughton, whose header from the right side of the six-yard box went into the bottom left corner. The club said it was MacNaughton's first goal for St. Louis and the third of his MLS career.

Marco Reus nearly answered right away, but Roman Bürki saved his shot from the centre of the box in the 44th minute. The Galaxy noted Reus was facing his former Borussia Dortmund teammate for the third time; the pair played 142 matches together at Dortmund. Bürki won this round. In the first minute of stoppage time, Tomas Totland found Hartel outside the box, and Hartel drove a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner for 2-0.

The Galaxy Go Down to 10

Emiro Garcés had been booked in first-half stoppage time, and four minutes after the restart he picked up a second yellow and was sent off. Reus had also been cautioned before the break. Down a man and two goals, LA were left chasing.

St. Louis kept probing. Hartel just missed from the left side of the box in the 52nd minute, and Becher headed off target from a Hartel corner in the 63rd. Five minutes later the visitors broke at speed, Hartel threaded a through ball, and Becher ran onto it and finished past Marcinkowski for 3-0.

The Galaxy kept fighting. Substitute Troy Elgersma had a header saved by Bürki in the 79th minute, then got his reward in the 86th when Harbor Miller drove forward from midfield and found him in the box, according to the Galaxy. Elgersma's left-footed finish into the bottom right corner was the first goal of his professional career, per the club. Marcinkowski made late saves on Jeong Sang-Bin and Palmer Ault to keep the margin at two.

Hartel's Night, and a Few Supporting Roles

Hartel finished with a goal, two assists and four shots, two of them on target. St. Louis said it was his fifth goal of the season, his third from outside the box, and that he has seven goal contributions in his last five matches for the club.

Becher was a constant threat with five shots and four on target, and he finally beat Marcinkowski on his fourth attempt of the night. MacNaughton opened the scoring before coming off in the 62nd minute.

Marcinkowski deserved better. He made six saves and kept the Galaxy within reach for long stretches. Elgersma, meanwhile, put both of his shots on target in about 20 minutes off the bench.

"Yeah, it's a big confidence boost for sure," Elgersma said of the goal, per the Galaxy. Vanney added that he "thought Harbor's effort over the course of the game, his desire to try to make things happen was just off the charts."

Where It Turned

The stretch either side of halftime. St. Louis scored in the 42nd minute and again in first-half stoppage time, and the Galaxy lost Garcés in the 49th. A game LA felt it was controlling became a 2-0 deficit with 10 men in barely a quarter hour of playing time. Vanney saw it the same way: "It was a game for me of moments. A couple moments that tipped the momentum in their favor and we give them ultimately the result."

Stats That Matter

• Shots on target: 9 to 3 for St. Louis, which also led in total shots, 15 to 11.
• Saves: six for Marcinkowski, two for Bürki.
• Interceptions: 17 to 10 in St. Louis's favor.
• Possession: 53.2 percent for St. Louis, which played with an extra man from the 49th minute on.

The Big Picture

St. Louis moved to 6-4-6 with 22 points and has won back-to-back league matches after beating Sporting Kansas City 3-2 last week. The quick turnaround continues with a home match against the Colorado Rapids on Saturday, July 25.

The Galaxy fell to 5-5-7 with 20 points after a second straight loss, following a 3-0 home defeat to LAFC on July 17. Vanney warned that availability is getting thin, saying the club might be "down to maybe 11 guys that are on our 20-man roster for the next game." That next game is at the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday, July 25, at Stanford Stadium, the end of a stretch of three matches in nine days.

Final Word

Reus and Bürki shared a dressing room for 142 matches, and on Wednesday the former teammates were on opposite sides of a lopsided night. Bürki got the win, the saves that mattered and a midfielder in Hartel who played like the lead singer of a reunion tour, hitting every note while everyone else just tried to keep up.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes and notes as reported by the LA Galaxy; additional notes from St. Louis CITY SC's official match report.