SAN JOSE — Midfielder Khari Stephenson wasn’t the only downtrodden Earthquakes player after a 1-0 defeat Wednesday night against the rival Los Angeles Galaxy.
Stephenson and other reserves were kicking themselves because of a slow start that dimmed their night in a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup game at Avaya Stadium.
“We all have a lot to prove,” said Stephenson, who has been a bit player during the Quakes’ successful Major League Soccer season.
That success included a rousing 3-1 victory over the Galaxy on Saturday at Stanford Stadium.
But the magic disappeared four days later in front of a crowd of 13,329 in a round-of-16 game that featured reserves on both sides.
The golden touch was lost because of a dismal start that led to Jose Villarreal’s sixth-minute goal past an ineffective back line. As a result, Los Angeles continued its superiority over the Quakes in Open Cup play by improving to 4-0-1.
“It’s the start that comes back to haunt us,” San Jose coach Dominic Kinnear said. “It doesn’t matter how many chances you get, or if you think you’re the better team, you need to start off the game correctly.”
His team experienced a similar scenario last month in an Open Cup game against Sacramento Republic FC. But the Quakes were rescued by leading scorer Chris Wondolowski’s two goals that helped the team eventually win in a penalty shootout.
San Jose didn’t look the same with Wondolowski away with the U.S. national team, which opens the CONCACAF Gold Cup next week. The Galaxy didn’t have U.S. teammates Gyasi Zardes and Omar Gonzalez, as well as Panamanian goalkeeper Jaime Penedo.
But it had the pesky Villarreal, who really bothered San Jose’s defense in the first 10 minutes.
The chaos led to Villarreal’s third goal of the season in all competitions after the Galaxy forward collected a fine pass from Kenny Walker.
Villarreal, 21, switched direction in the box and blasted a left-footed shot past goalkeeper Bryan Meredith.
“I think we were a bit unaware of the danger that was happening at that present time,” Kinnear said.
The coach refused to accept the inexperience of the back line as an excuse.
“We started with guys who wanted to play well,” Kinnear said. “I want guys who want to win.”
The Galaxy advanced to the Open Cup quarterfinals in two weeks to play at Real Salt Lake, which eliminated the Portland Timbers.
It didn’t sit well with the players that they failed to convert after the early stumble. San Jose looked much better in the second half, outshooting the Galaxy 9-2.
But the Quakes could not breach the Los Angeles goal line.
“We had crosses, we had shots,” Stephenson said. “We were in their half 95 percent of the time.”
The more they pushed, the more they were certain a goal would come.
It appeared Mark Sherrod tied the score in the 30th minute when he lined up with Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi on a deep free kick. But Sherrod was a step offside to negate the equalizer.
The Earthquakes got their first of three shots on goal in the 51st minute when JJ Koval’s header forced L.A. keeper Brian Rowe into a save.
Then Rowe went back to work three minutes later when Sherrod’s header was on target from Tommy Thompson’s corner. In the 58th minute, it took defender A.J. DeLaGarza to stop Sherrod on the far post.
San Jose should have drawn even in the 69th minute when midfielder Leonardo Barrera sprayed an easy shot just wide of the near post.
“To not have anything to show for is difficult to swallow,” Thompson said.
Follow Elliott Almond on Twitter at Twitter.com/ ElliottAlmond.
Sunday’s game
Earthquakes (7-5-4) at Portland (8-6-4), 2 p.m. ESPN2