SANDY, Utah - Real Salt Lake picked up their first win in five games on Saturday, rolling to 3-1 victory over Toronto FC at Rio Tinto Stadium.
RSL (7-3-5) controlled much of the play on the night and had a 3-0 lead before TFC pulled a goal back before the final whistle. Álvaro Saborío scored his first two goals of the season and defender Nat Borchers added a third for RSL, who won their fifth game in eight tries this season at home.
Maicon Santos scored his sixth goal of the season for Toronto (2-7-9), who saw their winless streak extended to 11 matches and fell into a tie with New England for last place in the Eastern Conference.
Borchers put RSL on the board in the 39th minute when he buried a header off a Kyle Beckerman corner kick, capitalizing on the best of a number of early chances for RSL.
Saborío padded the lead just three minutes later. The goal came off of a cross from Robbie Russell on the right wing that appeared headed for Luis Gil, but the ball eluded his outstretched foot and bounded directly to Saborio directly in front of goal. He squeezed between defenders Doneil Henry and Richard Eckersley and buried the chance for his first league goal since Oct. 23, 2010.
The Russell- Saborío combination clicked again in the 60th minute, when Russell delivered a long ball over the top, Saborío ran on and coolly slipped a shot past TFC goalkeeper Stefan Frei.
Santos was able to pull one back for TFC in the 66thminute as Jamison Olave slipped trying to track back on defense, leaving Santos a free path to goal after receiving a pass from Nick Soolsma. Santos stopped at the top of the area, and blasted a shot to Nick Rimando’s left for TFC’s lone goal on the night.
Scoring Summary:
RSL -- Nat Borchers 1 (Kyle Beckerman 2) 39
RSL -- Alvaro Saborio 1 (Robbie Russell 1, Kyle Beckerman 3) 42
RSL -- Alvaro Saborio 2 (Kyle Beckerman 4) 60
TOR -- Maicon Santos 6 (Nick Soolsma 3) 66
Toronto FC -- Stefan Frei, Richard Eckersley,
Doneil Henry, Ty Harden, Danleigh Borman, Dan Gargan (Nick Soolsma 66),
Nathan Sturgis, Gianluca Zavarise, Javier Martina (Matt Stinson 46),
Maicon Santos, Joao Plata (Mikael Yourassowsky 46).
Substitutes Not Used: Oscar Cordon, Ashtone Morgan, Demitrius Omphroy, Milos Kocic.
Real Salt Lake -- Nick Rimando, Robbie Russell,
Jamison Olave, Nat Borchers, Tony Beltran, Ned Grabavoy (Nelson Gonzalez
67), Kyle Beckerman, Collen Warner (Andy Williams 57), Will Johnson,
Alvaro Saborio (Jean Alexandre 81), Luis Gil.
Substitutes Not Used: Artur Aghasyan, Rauwshan McKenzie, Chris Schuler, Kyle Reynish.
Misconduct Summary:
RSL -- Collen Warner (caution; Tactical Foul) 48
TOR -- Richard Eckersley (caution; Tactical Foul) 58
RSL -- Jean Alexandre (caution; Tactical Foul) 84
RSL -- Will Johnson (caution; Tactical Foul) 85
Referee: Niko Bratsis
Referee's Assistants: Craig Lowry; Peter Balciunas
4th Official: Ricardo Salazar
Attendance: 15,077
Time of Game: 1:50
Weather: Clear-and-83-degrees
