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Real Salt Lake dropped the full three points at CenturyLink Field as they fell to Western Conference rivals Seattle Sounders by a score of 1-0.
Starting with a different formation and several changes from last week, Mike Petke put out a little bit of a surprising starting eleven to kick the game off in Seattle.
After plenty of back and forth for both teams throughout the first half — which included 75% of possession controlled by Seattle — the Sounders finally broke through in the 42nd minute, thanks to a wild play in the box that led to Harry Shipp driving home a shot that ultimately went in due to a deflection.
Rimando was caught diving the way the ball was headed, but the deflection sent it to the opposite post to put the home side up 1-0 right before the halftime break.
The second half came out with more of the same right off the bat, Seattle controlling possession and pace. The Sounders earned a penalty kick in the 54th minute when Chris Schuler took out Jordan Morris in the box with a tackle that just narrowly missed the ball.
However, Nick Rimando did what he does best — save penalties. He went the right way on Clint Dempsey’s kick from the spot and parried the ball out and away from danger, keeping the scoreline at 1-0.
RSL saw much more attacking play in the second half as they registered 10 shots (five on frame) as opposed to the one off-target shot they tallied in the first half, but ultimately it wasn’t enough as the home side went on to be the victors, thanks to the 42nd minute deflected goal from Harry Shipp. Possession got a little better for RSL but by no means did it even out. Seattle ended up dominating that stat, 65% over RSL’s 35%.
Seattle stays at home next week to play host to Cascadia rivals Portland Timbers, while RSL returns home to host the first and only visit from the Philadelphia Union this season.
RSL Lineup: Rimando; Dunk, Schuler, Maund, Schmidt; Holness (Savarino 57’), Sunny (Mulholland 75’), Beckerman, Rusnak; Silva (Movsisyan 74’), Plata