SANDY, Utah (Saturday, August 22, 2015) – Real Salt Lake got back into the win column at Rio Tinto Stadium with a 2-0 win over the defending Supporters’ Shield winners, Seattle Sounders FC on Saturday night. It was another thorough performance for Real Salt Lake – in the line of previous home wins against the Houston Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City.
MF Javier Morales and FW Sebastian Jaime scored their sixth and fifth goals of the season, respectively, and GK Nick Rimando needed just one save to earn his seventh shutout of the year as RSL moved to within three points of Seattle for the sixth and final playoff spot.
RSL dominated the first half with nearly 60-percent of the possession and a shooting advantage at 8-3, with five of RSL’s shot on frame to none for Seattle.
That advantage paid dividends early in the 12th minute RSL went up 1-0 through a penalty scored by Morales.
Seattle was whistled for the infraction when a ball was played into the box and Seattle defender Roman Torres was called for a handball on the edge of the box, and it was ruled a penalty by the officials.
Morales sauntered up to the spot and stutter-stepped just before launching his shot to the keeper’s left while Stefan Frei dove right and RSL took the 1-0 lead off the sixth goal of the year for Morales.
RSL didn’t let up with the early 1-0 lead though.
In the 19th minute, MF Luke Mulholland ended a good string of possession with a shot from distance that rattled off the crossbar. With the Seattle defense pressed high, Jaime was left alone to clear up the rebound and he thumped a header into the open net for his fifth goal of the season to lift Salt Lake to a 2-0 lead.
RSL carried that lead into halftime and the first-half barrage continued into the second half and FW Luis Silva nearly added to the lead in the 64th minute when he got on the end of a ball from Mulholland, but his sliding effort skipped wide of the far post and the lead remained 2-0.
In the rest of the second half, RSL commanded the possession game, maintaining 58-percent possession for the match while outshooting Seattle 13-5.
The win lifts RSL to 8-10-8 (32 points) on the season, three points behind Seattle (11-13-2, 35 points) with eight matches left in the season. Real Salt Lake goes back on the road to close out the month of August against FC Dallas on August 29 at Toyota Stadium.
Real Salt Lake Match Notes – RSLvSEA
- By halftime of the match, two RSL players reached career milestones for minutes played. GK Nick Rimando became just the second player in MLS history to surpass the 35,000 minute plateau in the 17th minute of the match while MF Kyle Beckerman moved past Joe Cannon into fourth place on the all-time list when he surpassed Cannon’s 30,731 minutes played in the 43rd minute.
- RSL FW Juan Martinez made his first appearance in the 18 after arriving with the club on Friday.
- The five shots allowed in the match were the second fewest in a match this season for RSL and it was the fifth time that the club allowed just one shot on goal.
REAL SALT LAKE 2-0 SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC
SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 2015
RIO TINTO STADIUM
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 2 0 2
Seattle Sounders FC 0 0 0
Scoring Summary:
RSL: Javier Morales (PK) 12’
RSL: Sebastian Jaime 19’
Misconduct Summary:
SEA: Erik Friberg (Yellow; Dissent) 25’
SEA: Andy Rose (Yellow; Foul) 39’
SEA: Oniel Fisher (Yellow; Foul) 50’
RSL: Olmes Garcia (Yellow; Foul) 83’
RSL: Tony Beltran (Yellow; Time-wasting) 92+’
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake (4-3-3): Nick Rimando; Tony Beltran, Aaron Maund, Jamison Olave, Demar Phillips; Kyle Beckerman (C), Luke Mulholland, Javier Morales (C); Luis Silva (Jordan Allen 83’), Sebastian Jaime (Devon Sandoval 87’), Joao Plata (Olmes Garcia 69’).
Substitutes not used: Jeff Attinella, Juan Manuel Martinez, John Stertzer, Elias Vasquez.
Seattle Sounders FC (4-4-2): Stefan Frei; Tyrone Mears, Roman Torres, Chad Marshall, Oniel Fisher; Andy Rose (Gonzalo Pineda 77’), Brad Evans (C), Erik Friberg, Aaron Kovar (Lamar Neagle 57’); Obafemi Martins, Nelson Valdez (Thomas 70’).
Substitutes not used: Troy Perkins, Dylan Remick, Cristian Roldan, Zach Scott.
Referee: Silviu Petrescu
Assistant Referees: Adam Garner, Mike Rottersman
4th Official: Younes Marrakchi
Attendance: 20,559
Weather: Clear and 79
