Dane St. Clair made six saves in regular time and Minnesota United benefited from Real Salt Lake’s two mistakes during a seven-kick penalty tiebreak, trailing 0-0 in Sandy, Utah on Tuesday night. Game 1 of the Western Conference playoff series ended in a tie. .
Salt Lake’s Justen Grad and Brian Ojeda both hit high attempts, and Ojeda’s miss on RSL’s seventh attempt sailed over the crossbar, giving the Loons a 1-0 lead in the series. I made it.
No. 6 seed Minnesota will host Game 2 on Saturday night for a chance to advance to the Western Conference semifinals.
Zach McMath had seven stops in regular time for RSL, which also played in a 0-0 tie with MNUFC in the regular season meeting in Utah earlier this month.
McMath also denied Michael Boxall’s penalty for Minnesota’s third goal, allowing RSL to quickly counter and take advantage when Glad took a high shot.
The first half was uneventful, but the game picked up steam in the second half, but neither team was able to take the lead.
It was Robin Rodd who provided the passes in the first two chances, Kelvin Yeboah forced McMath into his first difficult stop in the 47th minute and Carlos Harvey narrowly fired home from close range in the 49th minute. I missed and took the shot, but the angle was difficult.
St. Clair, on the other hand, had Diego Luna and Cristian Arango disallow goals in quick succession in the 52nd minute.
After 19 minutes, Yeboah broke down the left flank and found Tani Oluwaseyi on the other side of the box. However, McMath pounced from his line, spread his body and managed to block Oluwaseyi’s shot with his outstretched arm.
And in the 83rd, McMath lunged to his left to thwart Yeboah’s attempt after a slalom run and rose quickly enough to thwart Bongi Hlongwane’s rebound attempt.
In the 85th minute, St. Clair used his outstretched right foot to block Diogo Goncalves’ shot from close range, and in stoppage time, he made sure to catch Arango’s header.
This allowed Minnesota to keep a clean sheet for the fifth time in the last six games.
–Field level media
