Real Salt Lake Opens Home Schedule With Big Win Over West Rival Sounders
Feb 28, 2026, 7:50 PM
Real Salt Lake midfielder Zach Booth (23) looks on during the first half of the game against the Seattle Sounders at America First Field in Sandy on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (Photo courtesy of Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News)
(Photo courtesy of Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — Real Salt Lake showed out in the club’s home opener against the Seattle Sounders, cruising to a 2-1 victory at America First Field on Saturday.
The absence of Diego Luna nd Emeka Eneli clearly played a role in the club’s season-opening loss last weekend, but they fought through that adversity this weekend with players stepping up in big moments.
Aiden Hezarkhan and Ariath Piol were the goal scorers for RSL.
Seattle’s annual L in SLC
That’s 15 straight seasons #RSLvSEA | @SelectHealth pic.twitter.com/atD5DVApS2— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) March 1, 2026
First Half
In a similar fashion to the season-opener last weekend, Real Salt Lake started the match on its heels.
Just seven minutes in, Seattle threatened an early score off a corner kick. Yeimar Gómez posted up at the center of the six-yard box, and his header attempt sailed toward the top right of the goal.
RSL goalkeeper Rafael Cabral was able to keep the sheet clean, batting away the shot just inches from the line with his right hand.
Rafael Cabral answers the call on the early Seattle free kick! 🧤
📺 Watch @walmart Saturday Showdown on Apple TV: https://t.co/gm3MIpuKr4 pic.twitter.com/wfHQHkkxYd
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 1, 2026
The Sounders weren’t quite done there. Four of the first seven attempts of the match belonged to the road club.
After Cabral made another save in the right corner off a header in the 20th minute, RSL turned the tables.
Luca Moisa maneuvered through the defense, barreling down from the right wing. He offloaded to Juan Manuel Sanabria, who then found Hezarkhani with a cross to finish the job.
First goal of the 2026 season for @realsaltlake belongs to Aiden Hezarkhani off the incredible assist from Juan Manuel Sanabria#RSL | @kslsports pic.twitter.com/cuPxJg7nug
— RSL Show on KSL 🎙️⚡️ (@rslshow) March 1, 2026
The defense, on both sides, did its job from there. Hezarkhani’s goal was the last shot on target of the half.
Heading into the break, the score and the stats told two different stories. Seattle led in shot attempts, shots on goal, corner kicks, and time of possession. But execution in scoring moments is all that matters, and Real Salt Lake carried the 1-0 advantage into halftime.
Second Half
It didn’t take long for Real to create more of a cushion.
Just two minutes into the half, a beautifully-placed lead pass from Philip Quinton set the club up on a 2-on-1 break. Zavier Gozo sent it over to his left, and Piol buried it to go up 2-0.
Zavier Gozo and Ari Piol link up to double the lead for @realsaltlake early in the second half#RSL | @kslsports pic.twitter.com/wsUV6Ek6qn
— RSL Show on KSL 🎙️⚡️ (@rslshow) March 1, 2026
Other clubs might regress at this point, but Seattle actually turned up the heat as the challenge intensified.
The next two shot attempts came from the Sounders, and the third ended the drought.
On the club’s eighth corner, they finally broke through with a well-placed header from Cristian Roldan.
Clinical corner 🙂↕️
Cristian Roldan’s header gets one back for Seattle! pic.twitter.com/fqsaufmsFN
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 1, 2026
Seattle kept buzzing after the score, and disaster nearly struck for RSL in the 77th minute.
On the break, Paul Rothrock found former Real Salt Lake winger Daniel Musovski on the right side, and he buried his shot into the right side of the net. However, Rothrock was called offside, keeping Real’s lead intact.
That was as close as Seattle would get to three points. The Sounders pieced together a few more threatening attacks, but stoppage time eventually came and went.
The final whistle was blown, and Real Salt Lake got into the win column for the first time this season.
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