Chris Agorsor and Arturo Alvarez scored to lead Real Salt Lake Reserves (2-3-0, 6 points) to a 2-0 win over FC Dallas Reserves (3-2-0, 9 points) this morning on the adidas Field at Pizza Hut Park.
Real Salt Lake Reserves’ first goal came early, in just the 10th minute on a buildup started by Alvarez. Running at the heart of the FC Dallas defense, Alvarez played a one-two pass with Paulo Jr. After receiving the return pass, Alvarez had his shot blocked by an FC Dallas defender, but the redirection fell to the feet of Agorsor, who knocked a shot off the crossbar and left post of goalkeeper Chris Seitz. Several RSL players celebrated the near goal, but no whistle came until Agorsor collected his own rebound and put away a shot low to the far post for the 1-0 lead.
FC Dallas Reserves gained several minutes of possession near the 25th minute, but the RSL defense was too much to break down and the home side could not produce any clear chances on goal.
RSL’s right back Tony Beltran played a long ball down the right flank in the 29th minute that put Paulo Jr. in on goal against Seitz, but the 6-3 goalkeeper stood tall and made a nice right-handed save to deny RSL a second goal.
FC Dallas had its best chance of the half in the 37th minute when Daniel Cruz played a give-and-go with Andrew Wiedeman and hit the return pass with his first touch. Unfortunately for the recently-acquired Colombian midfielder, his hard shot went directly at RSL goalkeeper Kyle Reynish, who plucked the line drive out of the air to preserve the one-goal lead heading into halftime.
FC Dallas started off the second half by applying high energy pressure to Real Salt Lake’s defenders. The adjustment paid off as Dallas earned two chances on goal. The latter of the two opportunities came in the 52nd minute when FC Dallas won the ball back in its offensive third and got the ball to the feet of Ruben Luna. Luna held the ball up long enough for Jonathan Top to run off his left shoulder. Luna slid a pass in front of Top, but Reynish came charging off his line forcing Top to push his shot well wide of goal.
A counter-attack in the 60th minute produced FC Dallas’ best opportunity of the day. The play began with a lead pass in behind the Salt Lake defense from Bryan Leyva. Wiedeman took the pass in stride, headed towards the left post and dished a centering pass to Luna, who one-timed a shot low to the far post. Unfortunately for the FC Dallas Home Grown player, the shot went inches wide of the far post.
Real Salt Lake picked up its second goal of the game via a penalty kick converted by Alvarez in the 75th minute. The play that resulted in the penalty kick began with a through ball played into the feet of Cody Arnoux, who received the ball and turned on goal before going to the ground after a tackle by FC Dallas midfielder Victor Ulloa. Alvarez’s penalty kick beat goalkeeper Richard Sanchez low to the left side to make the score 2-0.
Real Salt Lake had an opportunity to push its lead to three in the 84th minute when a lofted ball up from the back crossed up two FC Dallas defenders. Agorsor was in position to take advantage, winning the ball near midfield and racing towards goal for a one-on-one opportunity against goalkeeper Sanchez. The Mexican U17 World Cup Champion came to the top of the box to cut down Agorsor’s angle and was able to make a solid save with his right hand before covering up the rebound.
