SANTA CLARA, Calif. – In a locker room already soaked with bubbly early on Sunday evening, San Jose Earthquakes defender Jason Hernandez called for a momentary truce in the back-and-forth spray-downs.
“Enjoy tonight,” said Hernandez, one of only two current Quakes who have been with the team since its re-establishment as an expansion club in 2008. “Tomorrow, let’s get ready for the playoffs.”
With that, the champagne once again started to fly.
It will go down as the Quakes’ second Supporters’ Shield, but as with the two stars on their jerseys – denoting MLS Cup triumphs in 2001 and 2003 – that first Shield was won by a team that moved following the 2005 season to Houston.
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This, then, represents the first piece of silverware won in their current incarnation. And it’s a sweet reward for a club that slid to an unhappy 8-12-14 last year.
“It’s a season’s worth of celebration,” said forward Chris Wondolowski, who might get his own personal drenching next weekend if he ties or breaks Roy Lassiter’s all-time single-season MLS scoring record in the Quakes’ regular-season finale. “The fact that we finished best in the league in the regular season says a lot about this team. It’s a hard thing to do. I’m proud of these guys.”
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