Sebastian Gomez bags hat trick in Defiance loss

The Tacoma Defiance continued their three-month long, post U.S. Open Cup slump on Friday, falling 6-4 to Ventura County at home. This loss, at least, came with a silver lining as Sebastian Gomez became the first teenager to score a professional hat trick for the Sounders organization.

After the Defiance gave up a goal in the 1st minute — immediately after sending the kickoff out of bounds and attempting to set up a high press — Gomez pulled it even in the 6th minute when he collected a line-breaking pass from Kaito Yamada and coolly slotted it past the Ventura goalkeeper.

It would prove to be one of the only first-half highlights for Defiance, who went into halftime trailing 4-1.

Ventura actually made it 5-1 before Gomez got on the board again, this time a wonderfully struck shot from about 25 yards after he had dribbled from beyond the midfield stripe. Gomez then added another in the 86th minute, a well-struck header off a Rafferty Pedder corner. It was the fifth hat trick in S2/Defiance history and the second this year.

Yamada added another late goal for Defiance, but it was far too little to overcome a second six-goal onslaught in three games. Although the Defiance have scored 45 goals — second most in MLS Next Pro — they’ve allowed a league-high 48 and have now gone 1-7-3 since falling to the Portland Timbers in the U.S. Open Cup.