Austin FC pounds D.C. United to snap 10-game winless streak and keep slim playoff hopes

Austin FC let out two months of frustration in a good way Wednesday night.

El Tree scored twice in the first 22 minutes and took a 3-0 win over D.C. United at Q2 Stadium to snap a 10-game winless streak and record three points for the first time since defeating Kansas City 2-1 on July 15. Will Bruin, Sebastián Driussi and Matt Hedges scored for Austin FC and goalkeeper Brad Stuver earned his first shutout in more than three months.

Here are some thoughts from the match as El Tree (10-14-8, 38 points) has a quick turnaround, hosting LAFC on Saturday in its next-to-last match of the regular season.

Weight lifted off team

This was a desperately-needed result to break the winless streak, which consisted of two Leagues Cup games and eight MLS contests. Head coach Josh Wolff, Hedges, Bruin and Stuver all mentioned in the postgame press conference that winning for the first time in nearly three months was a burden lifted.

El Tree’s playoff chances — more on that below — are slim and not carrying a long winless streak into the offseason was important.

Unlike previous games where it dominated early and didn’t score — the Portland loss on Sept. 17 stands out the most — Austin FC got on the board in the first 15 minutes.

Bruin, who missed a wide-open goal in the 1-0 loss to Colorado on Saturday, had a nice header off a brilliant pass from Driussi in the ninth minute. Then El Tree’s captain, who inexplicably was left unmarked in the box, had an easy finish on a cross from Alex Ring 13 minutes later.

Far too many times this season Austin FC hasn’t taken advantage of being the much better team in the first half, but that wasn’t the case this time.

The same can’t be said for the second half — despite Hedges scoring on a header off a corner kick in the 64th minute — when D.C. United had the better run of play and the bulk of possession. Some of that is due to trailing and having to force the flow of the game, but the visitors had several scoring chances they didn’t convert.

After that being the case for El Tree several times this year, Austin FC finally received some good soccer karma.

Lineup pays off

Wolff had an interesting starting lineup with Owen Wolff at outside back instead of Nick Lima and Jhojan Valencia at defensive midfielder over Dani Pereira. It was likely a gamble with another game awaiting on Saturday and the need to have fresh legs.

It paid off.

Though away from his normal position, Owen Wolff held his own at outside back, while Valencia continued a stretch of strong play over the last few weeks.

Both Pereira and Lima came on as subs in the second half and should be ready to play the bulk of Saturday’s match. Center back Leo Väisanen left the game in the second half with heat exhaustion and may not be available, but other than him El Tree will be in as good a shape as possible to take on star-studded LAFC on two days' rest.

Playoff hope?

Somehow, Austin FC’s playoff life still flickers after getting some favorable results from around the league Wednesday.

LAFC pounded Minnesota 5-1 and Seattle edged the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1, which enabled El Tree to climb into 10th place. Austin FC trails ninth-place Dallas, whose game with Colorado was postponed due to bad weather and will be made up at a date to be determined, by three points for the final playoff spot.

However, Dallas has three games left whereas El Tree only has two.

Austin FC’s best chance at the postseason may be leapfrogging eighth-place San Jose, which it plays in the season finale on Oct. 21.

The Earthquakes have 42 points, but if they lose or tie at Dallas on Saturday and El Tree beats LAFC, the Oct. 21 match would become a play-in game to the play-in game (the No. 8 and 9 seeds have a one-game playoff to determine who plays the No. 1 seed).

All of that is moot, though, if Austin FC doesn’t beat LAFC.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin FC snaps winless streak with win over D.C. United