SANDY, Utah (Saturday, March 16, 2013) – The Real Salt Lake Reserves (2-0-0, 6 points) moved to 2-0-0 in the Reserve League season on Saturday night, when they downed the Colorado Rapids Reserves in their opener 2-1 at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Saturday’s Reserve League match kicked off minutes after the conclusion of RSL’s 1-1 MLS regular season draw against Colorado and drew a crowd of roughly 1,000 Claret-and-Cobalt faithful.
Real Salt Lake FW Devon Sandoval – who played 10 minutes in the first-team match on Saturday afternoon – scored RSL’s first goal, nabbing the ball from the feet of Colorado GK Steward Ceus at the top of the box and calmly slotting home into an empty net.
The Claret-and-Cobalt went down a man in the 59th minute, when MF John Stertzer – who entered the match in the 45th minute for injured DF Carlos Salcedo – was shown a suspect straight red card for a tackle on Colorado DF Davy Armstrong.
Veterans Nat Borchers (RSL) and Edson Buddle (Rapids), both subbed off in the 69th minute. Saturday’s Reserve League match was Borchers’ first game action of 2013 – the veteran center back is still recovering from offseason surgery on his right quad. It was also Buddle's first action since last fall as he's recovering from a knee injury.
Borchers was replaced by RSL GK Lalo Fernandez, who played forward with the Claret-and-Cobalt bench very thin due to injuries.
RSL-Arizona Academy MF Coco Navarro put the Claret-and-Cobalt up 2-0 in the 84th minute. FW Olmes Garcia started the play, picking up a ball at midfield and streaking down the center of the pitch before playing Navarro through on the right side. The 18-year-old Marquette University commit did the rest, dribbling into the right side of the area before firing his shot inside the far post.
Colorado MF Dillon Serna scored a screamer of a consolation goal in the 89th minute, picking up a loose corner kick 25 yards out and rifling a shot into the top-right corner.
SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 2013 -RIO TINTO STADIUM
Scoring Summary:
RSL – Devon Sandoval – 35’
RSL – Coco Navarro – 84’
COL – Dillon Serna – 89’
Misconduct Summary:
COL – Nathan Sturgis (Foul) – 40’
RSL – Enzo Martinez (Foul) – 41’
RSL – John Stertzer (Straight Red Card; Foul) – 59’
RSL – Olmes Garcia (Foul) – 87’
Real Salt Lake (4-1-2-1-2) – Josh Saunders (Jeff Attinella, 46’); Carlos Salcedo (John Stertzer, 45’), Aaron Maund, Nat Borchers (Lalo Fernandez, 69’), Abdoulie Mansally; Yordany Alvarez; Enzo Martinez, Cole Grossman; Ned Grabavoy (Coco Navarro, 46’); Devon Sandoval, Joao Plata (Olmes Garcia, 46’)
Colorado Rapids (4-4-2) – Steward Ceus; Davy Armstrong (Brenton Griffiths, 86’), Shane O’Neill, Chris Klute, Kory Kindle; Kamani Hill, Nick LaBrocca (Andre Akpan, 63’), Nathan Sturgis, Jamie Smith (Danny Mwanga, 55’); Marcos Pirchio, Edson Buddle (Dillon Serna, 69’)
Substitutes not used: Bryan Windsor
Academy Player; *Trialist
