Typically, it takes a long time to establish a rivalry. But when you have two cities with a history of disdain like San Diego and Los Angeles, the process can be fast-tracked.

San Diego FC’s first meeting with Los Angeles FC at Snapdragon Stadium sure had the feeling of something bigger than your run-of-the-mill early season Major League Soccer match. The home crowd left chanting happy chants after a 3-2 win that moved SDFC past LAFC and into 2nd place in the Western Conference standings.

The first half was a verifiable goalfest. San Diego struck first when defender Chris McVey rose above the fray and headed a beautiful pass from Anders Dreyer into the corner of the net for a 21st minute goal, opening the proverbial floodgates.

Onni Valakari followed with a strike 13 minutes later. Dreyer’s serve from another set piece went straight to goalie Hugo Lloris, who dropped it right at Valakari’s feet. The great Scot fired it into an empty goal to make it 2-0. Just six minutes after that, Alex Mighten really sent the crowd into a frenzy when he corralled a loose ball and scored to put SDFC up 3-0 and it looked like a blowout was brewing.

LAFC rallied to keep it from getting out of hand. Artem Smolyakov and Cengiz Under netted late goals to cut the lead to 3-2 at the half. LAFC’s hopes of completing the comeback were snuffed out in the 53rd minute when Igo Jesus was called for his 2nd yellow card of the match, sending him off and forcing his team to play with 10 men the rest of the way.

SDFC avoided any disastrous shorthanded goals and held on for the one-goal win. San Diego gets to stay home for another week. They host Seattle on Saturday, April 5 for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Snapdragon Stadium.