Real Salt Lake 1 at Seattle Sounders FC 0
May 26, 2018; Seattle, Washington; CenturyLink Field
Real Salt Lake (5-6-1, 16 points); Seattle Sounders FC (2-6-2, 8 points)
Man of the Match: Sebastian Saucedo made his first MLS goal count, scoring the game-winner on a well-placed bending shot in the 61st minute. He had been threatening in the attack up until that point, but was unable to get a shot away until he cut in from the left side and beat Stefan Frei inside the far post.
Telling Stat: In the starting 11 on Saturday, Real Salt Lake deployed five products of the vaunted Real Salt Lake Academy. In addition to Saucedo, Justen Glad, Brooks Lennon, Danny Acosta and Corey Baird all started, while Aaron Herrera appeared off the bench. In total, RSL homegrown players accounted for 429 minutes on Saturday, giving them a total of 3,028 of the 10,800 minutes played (28%) by field players with RSL this season. In addition, RSL has used players aged 23 years old and younger in 5,876 minutes (54%) this season.
What You Missed: Herrera made his MLS debut when he came off the bench in the closing seconds of the match. He is the ninth player to make his MLS debut for RSL this season, joining Baird, Damir Kreilach, Shawn Barry, Alfredo Ortuno, Adam Henley, Pablo Ruiz, Nick Besler and Ricky Lopez-Espin.
So What: Real Salt Lake’s first road win of 2018 came at a good time. It was also the first win at CenturyLink Field since 2012. That type of win could be just the momentum-builder RSL needs heading into a pair of home matches against the Houston Dynamo and Seattle Sounders this week.
