San Jose Earthquakes use Munie’s goal, Gunn’s saves to beat Houston Dynamo FC 1-0

The San Jose Earthquakes continued their climb back up the MLS standings Saturday night, stretching their unbeaten streak to four matches in a 1-0 victory over the Houston Dynamo FC at PayPal Park.

San Jose (12-8-5, 41 points) used Daniel Munie’s first-half goal and some late heroics from goalkeeper Angus Gunn to move into a fourth-place tie with St. Louis City SC in the Western Conference.

San Jose’s second shutout against Houston in the last two weeks also moved the Quakes within two points of the second-place Dynamo (13-8-4, 43 points). Its current streak comes on the heels of a four-game losing streak in August.

“Obviously, we’ve been disappointed and down, but the group has always stuck together and worked hard every week,” said Gunn, the Scotland national keeper who signed with San Jose a little over two months ago. “I think you can sort of see that coming through now. The last four or five games, we’ve performed really well, and we’re looking strong at a good time for the rest of the season.”

Quakes coach Bruce Arena lauded his team’s defense, including efforts by Munie, Jack Jasinski and Dave Romney, as Houston’s attack proved unwavering.

“Give Houston credit. Houston played well, and they were hard to play against for 90 minutes,” Arena said. “It was pretty clear from the start that Houston wanted to try to play behind our back line. I thought Munie, Jasinski and Romney did a great job there, and our goalkeeper covering space behind them.

“I think there might have been just one time in the entire game where they actually got behind us and had an opportunity to get a goal, so our guys did a good job.”

The Earthquakes opened the scoring in the 38th minute when Beau Leroux hauled in a Niko Tsakiris corner kick inside the box on the left half-space. Leroux then pushed a low cross for Munie who redirected it from close range past Houston goalkeeper Jonathan Bond for what turned out to be the match’s only score.

The match remained scoreless only for some outstanding play in goal by Gunn.

in the 86th minute, Houston had two chances to score the equalizer when Nick Markanich headed the ball on net and Hector Herrera followed up but Gunn closed the door on both – using a kick save to keep the latter shot away.

“The first one was a point-blank header, and it was more just about positioning and getting my leg out,” Gunn told reporters. “Then I was on the floor, and I saw the guy pulling his leg back. I thought, ‘I don’t really have time to get up,’ so I just kind of gambled that he was going to try to hit it into that corner.

“I put my leg out and managed to save it, which, when it comes off, is a great feeling. Obviously, to get us a few points is massive moving forward.”

Notable

— Munie, San Jose’s lone All-Star this season, set a single-season club record with his fifth goal of the MLS season, snapping a tie with Fremont’s John Doyle for most goals by a defender, set in 2000.

— San Jose will host its rival LAFC at Levi’s Stadium on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

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