SANDY, Utah (AP) — João Klauss scored a pair of goals and Saint. Louis City extended its winning streak to five straight matches to start the season with a 4-0 victory over Real Salt Lake on Saturday night. Only two other MLS teams claimed 15 points in their first five games, the Galaxy in 1996 and Sporting Kansas City in 2012. St. Louis had already set the record for the best start for an expansion team when it won its fourth last weekend, surpassing the Seattle Sounders in 2009. Salt Lake (1-3-0) won its season opener against Vancouver, but then dropped consecutive games against Seattle and Austin. Nicholas Gioacchini, who St. Louis acquired in the expansion draft from Orlando, scored just two minutes into the second half off Eduard Lowen’s corner kick. Klauss, a Brazilian, added goals in the 61st and 66th minutes. He has five goals so far this season. Rasmus Alm added the final goal in the 76th minute. Only three other expansion teams have won at RSL: Toronto (2007), Atlanta (2017) and LAFC (2018). Free News Delivery by Email Would you like to have the day’s news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your

National Women’s Soccer League Commissioner Jessica Berman speaks during a news conference announcing the return of the Utah Royals, Saturday, March 11, 2023, in Sandy, Utah. The Royals are returning to Utah and the NWSL. The NWSL and Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake announced the second iteration of the Utah Royals on Saturday. The Royals were part of the NWSL for three seasons from 2018 to 2020. (Ryan Sun/The Deseret News via AP) The National Women’s Soccer League embarks on its 11th season this weekend with players looking to capitalize on the excitement building ahead of the Women’s World Cup while also trying to move on from the turbulence of the last two seasons. “It’s a big year of women’s soccer with the World Cup and a really exciting NWSL schedule and NWSL teams this year, so hopefully it stays that way,” OL Reign defender Alana Cook said. “And hopefully the narrative can just be about that.” The pro women’s league has been rocked for the past two seasons by a series of allegations of misconduct and abuse by coaches. The fallout has been a reckoning for soccer in the United States, with U.S. Soccer and the NWSL both having launched investigations into

Seattle Sounders defender Yeimar Gomez, left, heads the ball away from Real Salt Lake forward Rubio Rubin during the second half of an MLS soccer match Saturday, March 4, 2023, in Seattle. The Sounders won 2-0. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond) SEATTLE (AP) — Jordan Morris scored his league-leading third goal of the season and Stefan Frei posted his second straight clean sheet to spark the Seattle Sounders to a 2–0 victory over Real Salt Lake on Saturday night. Morris, who last week became the first player to score two goals in his first match of the season three different times, gave the Sounders (2-0-0) a 1-0 lead in the 35th minute. Alex Roldan had an assist on the score. Roldan picked up his second assist on a goal by Héber in the 58th minute. Real Salt Lake (1-1-0) was trying to open with back-to-back victories for only the fourth time in franchise history. Real Salt Lake beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1 in its opener, extending its record streak to 14 straight openers without a loss. RSL has just two wins in its last 17 visits to Seattle. The Sounders routed the Colorado Rapids in their first game 4-0. It marked the

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Brad Stuver stopped two tries in penalty time, a third one sailed high over the crossbar, and Austin advanced past Real Salt Lake 3-1 on penalties after a 2-2 draw in the MLS Cup Playoffs on Sunday. Austin, the second seed in the Western Conference, was victorious in its first playoff appearance and advanced to face either No. 3 Dallas or No. 6 Minnesota in the conference semifinals. Dallas and Minnesota play on Monday. Austin rallied from an early 2-0 deficit, tying the score on a pair of goals by Sebastián Driussi, who also scored in the penalties. Diego Fagúndez and Emiliano Rigoni also scored as Austin went 3-for-3 against RSL’s Zac MacMath. RSL took an early 2-0 lead when Sergio Córdova scored in the third minute and added a penalty kick in the 15th. Driussi, who scored 22 goals in the regular season, answered in the 31st minute and RSL went on to lead 2-1 at intermission. Early in the second half, Salt Lake’s Rubio Rubin drew the first red card of his career and RSL played a man short for 67 minutes. The man advantage led to a 38-11 advantage in shots for Austin,

Portland Timbers’ Juan Mosquera (29) guards Real Salt Lake forward Jefferson Savarino, left, during the first half of an MLS soccer match Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022, in Sandy, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) SANDY, Utah (AP) — Jefferson Savarino scored early and Real Salt Lake went on to secure a spot in the MLS playoffs with a 3-1 victory over the Portland Timbers on Sunday. Rubio Mendez and Bode Hidalgo also scored for Salt Lake (12-11-11), which had not won a match since Aug. 31. RSL had just three victories in its last 16 games. The Timbers (11-10-13), rocked by scandal in the past week, needed a victory or draw over Salt Lake to make the playoffs. With the loss, Portland was eliminated. The Timbers share ownership with the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League. Earlier this week, an investigation was released that detailed misconduct in the NWSL. The investigation looked at sexual coercion and harassment allegations leveled at a former Thorns coach. In the fallout, the club fired a pair of executives on Wednesday. Savarino scored in the 19th minute and Mendez added another in the 49th. RSL, which dominated the match, got one more goal from Hidalgo in

LA Galaxy midfielder Marco Delgado (8) and Real Salt Lake defender Andrew Brody (2) run toward the ball during the second half of an MLS soccer match in Carson, Calif., Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis) CARSON, Calif. (AP) — The LA Galaxy clinched a berth in Major League Soccer’s playoffs for the first time since 2019, coming from behind in a 1-1 draw against Real Salt Lake on Saturday night as Douglas Costa converted a penalty kick in the 68th minute. The playoff berth is the 20th in 27 seasons for the Galaxy, a five-time MLS champion. Eight of the 14 playoff spots have been determined, with the Galaxy joining Austin, Dallas and LAFC from the Western Conference, and defending champion New York City joined by Montreal, New York Red Bulls and Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference. LA was awarded a penalty kick by referee Kevin Stott when Riqui Puig was pulled down by Scott Caldwell but Puig’s kick was stopped in the 17th minute by goalkeeper Zac MacMath, who dived left. Sergio Córdova put RSL (11-11-11) ahead with his ninth goal of the season in the 25th minute, falling as he headed Aaron Herrera’s cross past Jonathan

SANDY, Utah (AP) — Brenner’s goals were pivotal for Cincinnati in a 2-1 win against Real Salt Lake on Saturday night. Brenner’s game-winner came in the 76th minute to put Cincinnati (11-8-12) ahead 2-1. Luciano Acosta had an assist on the goal. Brenner scored all of Cincinnati’s goals in the game. Maikel Chang scored the only goal for RSL (11-11-10). RSL outshot Cincinnati 18-8, with eight shots on goal to three for Cincinnati. Roman Celentano saved seven of the eight shots he faced for Cincinnati. Zac MacMath saved one of the three shots he faced for RSL. Cincinnati visits the Seattle Sounders on Tuesday, while RSL will visit the LA Galaxy on Saturday. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar. Free News Delivery by Email Would you like to have the day’s news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start! Source link

Real Salt Lake midfielder Braian Ojeda (88) reacts after an Austin FC score during the second half of an MLS soccer match, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Austin clinched its first playoff berth, beating Real Salt Lake 3-0 Wednesday night as Moussa Djitte scored his first career hat trick, all in the second half. Austin (16-9-6), which started play in 2021, became the second Western Conference team to clinch a berth this season after first-place Los Angeles FC. Djitte scored in the 60th minute, running onto Diego Fagundez’s diagonal pass and flicking the ball over goalkeeper Zac MacMath from just inside the 6-yard box. Djitte doubled the lead in the 76th with an 8-yard right-foot shot after Ethan Finlay’s attempt rebounded off the crossbar, then added another on a counterattack in the 80th from Ruben Gabrielsen’s pass. The Senegalese forward, who turns 23 next month, had scored one previous goal this season, against Orlando on May 22. He joined Major League Soccer after spending 2018-19 with Sion in Switzerland and 2019-21 with Grenoble in the French second tier. Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver made six saves. The teams play again Saturday. Austin

SANDY, Utah (AP) — Matai Akinmboni became the third-youngest player in Major League Soccer history in D.C. United’s 0-0 draw against Real Salt Lake on Saturday night. D.C. United coach Wayne Rooney started Akinmboni at 15 years, 328 days. The only younger players in MLS have been D.C.’s Freddy Adu (14 years, 334 days on April 3, 2004) and Vancouver’s Alphonso Davies (15 years, 327 days of July 16, 2016). Zac MacMath made three saves for Real Salt Lake and David Ochoa had seven saves for D.C., which has the fewest points in the league and has been eliminated from playoff contention. RSL (11-9-10) had a 16-8 advantage in shots over United (7-17-6), with eight shots on goal to three. RSL next plays on Wednesday against Austin on the road, and United will visit Sporting Kansas City on Tuesday. Free News Delivery by Email Would you like to have the day’s news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start! Source link