Torres' hat trick leads Houston to 4-1 win over New York

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2017 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (April 1, 2017) Forward Erick Torres scored three goal in just over 48 minutes to give the Houston Dynamo a 4-1 win over the New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer action at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston. The 17-thousand-plus fans in attendance saw Torres score the first hat trick of his career in route to the Dynamo winning their third game of the season.  With the win, Houston goes to 3-1-0 on the season as well as being 3-0 at home. They raised their all-time record against New York to 5-11-8 and to 5-2-5 against the Red Bulls in Houston.

For their second consecutive game, Houston conceded the first goal of the game. The Red Bulls scored in the 13^th minute with Houston evening the score one minute later. Dylan Remich scored in the 14^th minute with an assist by Alex. Then Torres began his scoring assault with a penalty kick in the 42^nd minute. He added his second goal of the night in the 56^th minute and completed his hat trick in added time of the second quarter. It was Torres’ third career multi-goal game and his first since September 1, 2013 for Chivas USA at Vancouver.

The Dynamo outscored the Red Bulls 2-0 in the second half, marking the first game this season in which the team “won” the second half.  They have outscored their opponents 9-3 at BBVA Compass Stadium this season.   The headed goal scored by Remick in the 14th minute was Houston’s second goal from a corner kick this season. It was also the first scored by a player not listed as a forward, and the first scored by a Dynamo player with a body part other than their right foot.  After only drawing one penalty all season in 2016, the Dynamo have drawn two in as many games. Torres converted both.