Taj Eagleston broke a second-half stalemate in the 79th minute Wednesday, giving No. 22 San Diego a 2-1 win at Loyola Marymount and its first West Coast Conference victory of the season. The Toreros fell behind midway through the first half, responded barely a minute later and controlled enough of the remaining chances to leave Sullivan Field at 6-2-2 overall.
LMU struck first at 21:45. Sam Scott finished a move assisted by Skyler Wright and Lewis Clutton, putting the Lions ahead on their first four first-half shots. The lead lasted 68 seconds. Steven Ramirez scored his fourth goal of the year at 22:53 after service from Oliver Rhoades and Iain Wagner, erasing the only deficit USD faced.
That quick reply mattered because neither side found another goal for nearly an hour. San Diego took 10 shots before halftime and held LMU to four, yet the teams reached the break tied. The Toreros also earned five first-half corners, giving them repeated restarts without converting one into a lead.
The second half tightened. USD produced five shots to LMU's five, while each side added three corners. Eagleston finally separated them at 78:41, scoring his fourth goal of the season without an assist listed in the official scoring summary. The finish moved him level with Ramirez for the team lead and left LMU a little more than 11 minutes to answer.
San Diego did not need another save-heavy performance from Lucca Adams. LMU put two of nine shots on target, and Adams stopped one. The Toreros placed four of 15 attempts on frame; LMU goalkeeper Dylan Glaser saved two. The gap was in volume and territorial pressure, not a barrage of clear shots.
The win followed a 0-0 draw with Denver in the conference opener, a match in which USD recorded 16 shots and six on target without scoring. At LMU, the conversion rate changed even as the raw chance count fell. Two of four shots on goal went in, and the Toreros turned the game's only second-half goal into three points.
Discipline did not reshape the result. LMU received two yellow cards, one late in each half, while the official box score recorded no cautions for San Diego. The Toreros committed 13 fouls to the Lions' 10. Those interruptions never produced a penalty kick or a sending-off, keeping the contest in ordinary play through Eagleston's winner.
The result puts USD at 1-0-1 in conference play and extends its unbeaten run in the LMU series. It also keeps the four-time defending WCC champion from surrendering early ground after the Denver draw. One road win does not settle the new conference format, which adds a four-team tournament, but it converts a close match into points before the next trip.
San Diego continues the road swing Saturday night at San Francisco. The useful sequence from Los Angeles is compact: concede, answer before the match resets, then stay patient through 56 scoreless minutes. Eagleston supplied the last touch, and the Toreros carried a 2-1 lead through the final stretch rather than asking for a second rescue.