Thirteen games, one night to forget it all
Two minutes. That’s all it took for Real Salt Lake to remember how winning feels. Aiden Hezarkhani pounced on a scrambled New England clearance and drilled it past Matt Turner, and just like that, a club-record 13-match winless streak started cracking before the crowd in Sandy, Utah had even settled into their seats.
RSL hadn’t won a league match since May 13, a stretch that swallowed most of the summer. Saturday night, they didn’t just win. They dominated. Sergi Solans scored twice, Rafael Cabral kept a clean sheet with four saves, and New England managed nothing better than a post and a low-percentage shot Cabral swallowed up in the 76th minute. Final score: 3-0.
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Solans rediscovers his scoring boots
Solans hadn’t scored in six matches before Saturday, and he picked a good night to end that drought too. His first, in the 62nd minute, came off a quick move through the middle: Noel Caliskan slid a pass into his path, and Solans beat Turner from close range before losing his footing. His second, in the 80th, needed nothing more than a tap-in off a cross from Morgan Guilavogui.
Hezarkhani finished the night with a goal and an assist, and Dominik Marczuk picked up two assists of his own after setting up the opener with the shot that led to the defensive mistake. It was RSL’s first goal in any competition since a Sept. 9 match against Houston, and their first three-goal outing in weeks.
What it means in the standings
Real Salt Lake move to 9-13-5 and 32 points, still chasing a Western Conference playoff spot but no longer staring at a streak that had started to define their season. New England, meanwhile, slip to 14-9-4 and fall 14 points behind conference leader Nashville. Worse for the Revolution, they missed a chance to lock down second place in the East before Inter Miami’s Sunday match, which could push them past New England with a win or even a draw.
For a team that had forgotten what a full 90 minutes without conceding felt like, Cabral’s clean sheet mattered almost as much as Solans’ brace. Sandy, Utah hasn’t seen a night like this in months.
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