Ian Pilcher was one of the standouts as SDFC secured the win over Minnesota that sent them to the MLS Western Conference final on Monday Nov. 24, 2025. (Photo by David Frerker)
San Diego FC is two wins from delivering America’s Finest City its first major modern sports championship.
Not bad for an expansion club that some pundits picked to finish at the bottom of the Western Conference table. Instead, SDFC faces the Vancouver Whitecaps at 6 p.m. Saturday in the conference finals at Snapdragon Stadium with a trip to the MLS Cup championship on the line.
SDFC went into Monday’s match nursing a handful of injuries, but Hirving “Chucky” Lozano and Anders “El Paletero” Dreyer were none the worse for wear. In fact, Dreyer scored the game-winner in Monday’s dramatic 1-0 victory over Minnesota after dealing with an unknown illness that kept him out of the Denmark vs Scotland match on Nov. 18.
The team is now almost completely healthy, except for the absence of goalkeeper CJ dos Santos, and is the favorite on Saturday according to the Vegas oddsmakers as it prepares for the Whitecaps.
“The measure of success is how you approach every single day,” said San Diego FC head coach Mikey Varas. “We said we were here to win, but how we won and who we won with mattered.”
Goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega came in as a substitute after the Nov. 1 injury to dos Santos and performed valiantly as he blocked two penalty kicks in a loss against Portland during the shootout period.
The Mexico City native followed that up with back-to-back shutouts on Nov. 9 in the 4-0 elimination of the Timbers and on Monday. But he also affirmed the old adage that a goalkeeper without luck isn’t a goalkeeper.
Teammate Ian Pilcher provided it when he used his right quadricep to make a sliding save at the line to start the second half of the Minnesota match. But that was just the appetizer.
The sold-out crowd at Snapdragon Stadium burst into ecstasy at the main dish, in the 72nd minute, when forward Corey Baird provided a perfect backheel pass to Dreyer just before the ball went out of bounds.
The Danish national team star then riffled the ball into the top corner past the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair for what, as of now, is the biggest goal in the history of professional soccer in San Diego.
“I can’t wait to play on Saturday at home,” said Dreyer. “That’s amazing for me now that we are in the Western Conference final. It’s a big thing for me personally, these are games that are fun to play.”
The Whitecaps and stars Sebastian Berhalter and Thomas Müller made the Western Conference final thanks to miraculous finishes in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, each decided on penalty kicks.
The team’s win against LAFC in the semifinal round could go down as one of the grittiest performances in Canadian sports. Vancouver gave up the tying goal in the 95th minute, then survived going down two players by the end of regulation, with 12 minutes left in extra time.
One advantage, though, for SDFC – Vancouver will be without MLS Defender of the Year Tristan Blackmon, due to a red card against LAFC.
In addition, with the elimination of top-seed Philadelphia, San Diego FC could end up hosting the MLS Cup championship if New York City FC pulls a monumental upset over Inter Miami, led by Lionel Messi, in Saturday’s Eastern Conference final.
And finally, there’s one other possible accomplishment for San Diego. The club hopes to become the first MLS expansion side to go all the way since the Chicago Fire did it in 1998.
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