In 2012, the San Jose Earthquakes had the best start in franchise history. The team established a habit of scoring late goals to tie or win games. The first was a match against Real Salt Lake on April 21, 2012, scoring 2 goals in stoppage time to win 3–1. The next week, a stoppage time goal produced a win against the Philadelphia Union. Two more games resulted in ties with late goals, both scored by Alan Gordon. On May 23, 2012, against the L.A. Galaxy, the Quakes scored 3 times in 18 minutes to win 3–2. After this game striker Steven Lenhart declared "Goonies never say die!" (a reference to the movie The Goonies), and this was made into the rally cry of the team.
