Danielle Russell may have gotten away from Michelle Myers during her day job as the assistant coach for the Loyola Marymount women's soccer team.

Russell, a recent graduate of Long Beach Wilson High, elected to play against Myers for the next four years at the University of San Diego.

Instead the relationship paid off with the first W-League win for the Ventura County Fusion women's soccer team.

Russell, successfully recruited by Myers to play in Ventura this summer, played in three positions on defense and provided the game-winning goal in the 70th minute as the Fusion earned its historic first win with a 3-2 win against the visiting Los Angeles Legends on Saturday night at Buena High.

"She got off my hook at LMU," said Myers of Russell. "But she can play anywhere."

Emily Wynne had a goal and added her fourth assist of the season on Katie Osborne's 47th-minute goal as the Fusion (-1) moved up to fifth place in the Western Conference, even on four points with the fourth-place Seattle Sounders, who have three matches in hand.

"It's just nice to get a win," said Wynne. "We've been working hard and it looks like things are coming together."

The first meeting of two of the conference's three expansion franchises was also an opportunity for the conference's last two winless teams to pick up a full three points for the first time in their franchises' short histories.

Despite a two-goal Fusion cushion with 20 minutes to play, the match was in doubt until the final whistle, turning on the moment in the 88th minute when Legends forward Courtney Price headed Casey Schostag's pass over the Fusion crossbar.

"It's nice to go home with a win," said Wynne.

The Legends (0-5-1) may not have found their first win, but they did complete the road half of their bizarre 12-match schedule, which saw the first-year franchise play its first six games on the road and the final six games at home in Azusa and Glendora.

After Wynne assisted on the Fusion's first three official goals in the W-League, it was only fitting that the Pepperdine forward scored the club's first goal on home turf.

The match wasn't three minutes old when Wynne took the ball off an opposing defender 30 yards out, took a touch, and buried the finish past Legends goalkeeper Brittany Massro.

"It was a goal based on hard work," said Myers.

Massro did win the next two one-on-one battles between the two, however, to keep the Legends in the match, diving to make saves on Wynne in the 15th and 40th minutes.

The Fusion made four changes at halftime and public-address announcer John Daykin hadn't finished announcing them when the Legends, who had only scored once in five previous matches, equalized.

The second half was seconds old when forward Courtney Price came roaring through midfield to welcome substitute goalkeeper Tammy Lenham with a low shot that nestled into the bottom right of the Fusion's net.

"You can judge whether that's coaching error," said Myers, laughing. "We changed the center back and, sure enough, they went down the middle of the field."

But the Legends were only even for 20 seconds, as one of those Fusion substitutes, forward Katie Osborne, popped up in the Legends penalty area to flick Wynne's pass past Massro.

Russell then provided an important insurance goal with 20 minutes to play, rising above her marker to head home Madison Klovstad's corner kick.

Fullback Ashley Salas headed in a corner kick seven minutes later to pull the Legends within 3-2 and trigger a dramatic last 13 minutes.