SAN JOSE, Calif. (Sunday, April 5, 2015) – Real Salt Lake MF Javier Morales has loved seeing the San Jose Earthquakes on the other side of the field. On Sunday, he scored his ninth career goal in 15 matches against San Jose to lift RSL (2-0-2, 8 points) to a 1-0 win in the club’s first ever visit to the newly-built Avaya Stadium.
GK Nick Rimando finished with two saves to post his second shutout of the season and the 117th clean sheet in his MLS career as RSL remains unbeaten through the first four matches of the 2015 season.
After a quiet first half that saw just one shot in the first 30 minutes, RSL took the lead in the 44th minute on the second goal of the season from Morales. It came after MF Luke Mulholland suffered a foul that drew a yellow card on San Jose MF Innocent about 25 yards from goal.
Morales struck the free kick into the wall, but the rebound came clean to him and he thundered in a first-time shot that hit the underside of the crossbar and in for the goal and a 1-0 lead.
San Jose raced back the other way and nearly scored on its second shot of the match. Sanna Nyassi passed in from the right side and found Adam Jahn at the near post, but his back-heel flick skipped beyond the far post for a goal kick.
In the final moments of first-half stoppage time, San Jose had another opportunity as J.J. Koval put a header on frame in traffic in the box, but it was cleared off the line and RSL went into the break toting a 1-0 lead.
While there were just six total shots in the first half, the second half saw six shots in the first 10 minutes.
Then in the 57th minute, Rimando was called to action for his toughest moment to that point when Matias Perez Garcia played a quick free kick to Koval in the box. Koval made a near-post run and Perez Garcia found him with a quickly taken ball from the left side. He chested it down as Rimando converged and forced him wide, then blocked his shot toward the opened net to keep ahold of the lead.
On the last kick of the ball, San Jose’s Fatai Alashe put a side-winding shot from the middle of the box amidst a scrum off a free kick just over the bar and RSL finished with its second consecutive victory.
RSL’s next match will be on the road against Sporting Kansas City in their first meeting since SKC returned to the Western Conference this season. Saturday’s match at Sporting Park is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. MT.
Real Salt Lake Match Notes – SJ-RSL
- RSL FW Jordan Allen made his first MLS start, one week after scoring the game-winning goal in a 2-1 win over Toronto FC.
- RSL MF Luis Gil was on the bench after playing 90 minutes in two matches for the U.S. U-23 National Team in preparation for Olympic qualifying later in the Fall. GK Nick Rimando and FW Alvaro Saborio both started after seeing extended time with the U.S. and Costa Rica, respectively.
- MF Javier Morales has a hand in all five of RSL’s non-penalty goals, registering two goals and three assists.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES 0-1 REAL SALT LAKE
SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015
AVAYA STADIUM
Goals by Period 1 2 F
San Jose Earthquakes 0 0 0
Real Salt Lake 1 0 1
Scoring Summary:
RSL – Javier Morales – 44’
Misconduct Summary:
SJ – Innocent (Yellow; Foul) – 43’
SJ – Chris Wondolowski (Yellow; Dissent) – 60’
RSL – Olmes Garcia (Yellow) – 73’
RSL – Abdoulie Mansally (Yellow; Time Wasting) – 82’
SJ – Fatai Alashe (Yellow; Foul) – 93+’
Lineups:
San Jose Earthquakes (4-4-2): David Bingham; Cordell Cato, Victor Bernardez (Leandro Barrera – 79’), Clarence Goodson, Shaun Francis (J.J. Koval – 37’); Innocent, Fatai Alashe, Matias Perez Garcia, Sanna Nyassi (Shea Salinas – 64’); Adam Jahn, Chris Wondolowski.\
Substitutes not used: Bryan Meredith, Ty Harden, Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi, Tommy Thompson.
Real Salt Lake (4-3-3): Nick Rimando; Tony Beltran, Jamison Olave, Chris Schuler, Abdoulie Mansally; Kyle Beckerman (C), Luke Mulholland, Javier Morales; Jordan Allen (Luis Gil – 76’), Alvaro Saborio (Devon Sandoval – 68’), Olmes Garcia (John Stertzer – 87’).
Substitutes not used: Jeff Attinella, Sebastian Saucedo, Elias Vasquez, Aaron Maund.
Referee: Armando Villarreal
Assistant Referees: Corey Parker, Apolinar Mariscal
4th Official: Alejandro Mariscal
Attendance: 18,000
Weather: 61 and cloudy
