RSL snaps 13-match winless streak with 3-0 win over New England

SANDY — At times, Pablo Mastroeni admitted, he had almost forgotten what winning felt like.

Real Salt Lake remembered Saturday night.

After four straight losses and three consecutive matches without a goal, Aiden Hezarkhani ended RSL’s 287-minute scoreless drought in the second minute, Sergi Solans scored twice in the second half and Rafael Cabral and the Salt Lake defense kept New England off the board in a 3-0 victory at America First Field.

The win was RSL’s first in MLS play since May 16, snapping a 13-match winless streak against a Revolution team that entered the night second in the Eastern Conference.

Three nights after Mastroeni lamented his team’s inability to make the decisive play in Seattle, RSL finally found them.

“At times you forget what it feels like to win,” Mastroeni said. “I think tonight was just a lot of determination, a lot of grit, a lot of perseverance, a lot of sacrifice, a lot of dog work, and then obviously scoring the goals.”

Hezarkhani ends the drought

RSL needed less than two minutes to find the goal it had been searching for.

The play started with Morgan Guilavogui turning what looked like a 40/60 ball into an RSL attack, powering through a challenge and taking possession down the left channel before switching the ball to Dominik Marczuk on the right.

Marczuk blistered a cross through the penalty area that New England center back Mamadou Fofana couldn’t deal with cleanly. Hezarkhani pounced on the loose ball, striking it first-time with his left foot and into the far side netting.

For Mastroeni, the decisiveness of the finish was exactly what had been missing.

“It’s not scripted. It’s instinctive,” Mastroeni said.

New England controlled long stretches of possession, but Salt Lake repeatedly won the individual battles Mastroeni emphasized throughout the week.

Guilavogui contested 14 duels, while center backs Philip Quinton and Kobi Henry won 10 of 12 combined.

“Duels is a foundational piece of what we’ve been talking about since the Vancouver game,” Mastroeni said.

Solans finally gets his goals

Solans had spent the previous two matches getting into dangerous positions without finding the finish, including a one-on-one Wednesday in Seattle when an extra touch cost him the opportunity.

Saturday brought two more misses before he finally broke through in the 62nd minute.

And this one started nearly 70 yards from goal.

Under pressure just outside his own penalty area, Philip Quinton split three Revolution players with a pass to Hezarkhani near midfield. Hezarkhani moved it left to Noel Caliskan before being drilled from behind, and Caliskan carried the attack into New England territory before slipping the ball into Solans’ feet at the top of the box.

Fofana immediately clattered into Solans from behind, but he stayed on his feet, pushing toward goal.

Solans appeared to glance left before shooting, then rolled the ball just inside the right post as Matt Turner committed in the opposite direction.

After trying to beat Turner at the near post earlier, Solans knew he needed an adjustment.

“I had to change something,” Solans said. “I changed it.”

Solans sprinted toward the corner where RSL’s substitutes were warming up, slid feet-first toward the sideline and covered his face with both hands before disappearing beneath a mob of teammates.

“I think my face explains how I felt,” Solans said.

The goal was his 10th in MLS this season, making Solans just the sixth SuperDraft pick in league history to score at least 10 goals in his first season out of college.

He wasn’t finished.

In the 79th minute, Guilavogui drove down the right with Solans making a parallel run through the middle and a New England defender positioned between them.

Guilavogui bent a classy ball across the penalty area. It was too far from goal for Turner to claim, too far in front of the defender for him to cut out, and curled back into the path of Solans’ run.

Solans met it with his left foot and redirected it inside the right post, the same corner he had found 17 minutes earlier.

The brace gave Solans 11 goals and three assists in his debut MLS season, plus two goals in Leagues Cup.

Mastroeni understood what ending the drought meant to his young striker.

“It’s so hard for a striker ’cause they live and die on goals,” Mastroeni said.

“If I have to miss a lot of goals, but then score the most difficult ones, I’m gonna continue doing that,” Solans said. “I’m gonna get better on the one-v-one, I can promise that.”

Before Saturday’s match, with his parents sitting in the stands, Solans looked toward the sky and gave himself a simple instruction.

“Today, just enjoy,” he said. “Just enjoy, and let’s see what happens.”

His parents had traveled a long way to watch him, Solans explained afterward in Spanish, and the first two matches they attended hadn’t gone the way the family hoped.

This time, he said, he was able to give them two goals “because they deserve it.”

RSL finally puts up a zero

Saturday’s shutout was RSL’s third of the MLS season.

Goalkeeper Rafa Cabral made four saves and called it a “complete performance.” He said RSL’s veterans bear responsibility for helping the young players thrust into larger roles.

“They have no responsibility. It’s our responsibility, the older players,” Cabral said, adding that the veterans’ job is to give the young players the confidence to “express themselves.”

RSL also adjusted without the ball, increasingly settling into a mid-block rather than consistently pressing high, which created more space in transition.

Solans acknowledged the change after the match.

“It’s a different style,” Solans said. “Maybe it’s not the nicer style of play, but at the moment it’s the most effective, and we are gonna continue doing that.”

For one night, at least, the system produced exactly what Salt Lake desperately needed: three goals, a clean sheet and three points.

Now RSL finally gets time to recover during the international window before resuming MLS play at Philadelphia on Oct. 10.

Mastroeni wasn’t quite ready Saturday night to think about what RSL will work on during the break.

“It’s been so long, man,” Mastroeni said. “I just wanna enjoy an adult soda, turn on some TV and smile for a couple more minutes before we go back to work.”