Real Salt Lake made a pair of surprising transactions Tuesday that all but guarantee that a pair of Utah natives will be on the team's opening-day roster.
RSL coach John Ellinger waived Adolfo Gregorio, Diego Walsh and Chase Harrison from the team's preseason roster Tuesday, the day before teams were required to trim their rosters to the league-mandated 28 players.
Barring any last-minute acquisitions, Judge graduate Adam Acosta and Cottonwood graduate Joey Worthen will be on the team's 28-man roster this year.
Even though RSL's roster technically has 29 players on it, the team confirmed that Seth Trembly suffered a left ACL injury last week, and will likely be placed on the season-ending injured reserve list.
Gregorio was a late-season signee last year who played in six games. RSL acquired the rights to Diego Walsh last November, but he was never guaranteed a roster spot. Harrison was the fourth goalkeeper in training camp after the team acquired him in the 2006 supplemental draft.
PRESEASON ACTION: Real Salt Lake battled the Faroe Islands National Team to a 1-1 tie on Tuesday in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
Rookie Mehdi Ballouchy opened the scoring in the 13th minute on an assist from Atiba Harris. The Faroe Island's lone goal was scored in the 86th minute by Andrew Flotum.
RSL's next game is this Friday against the U.S. Under-20 National Team in Ft. Lauderdale. Salt Lake's preseason record is now 7-1-2.
Real Salt Lake roster
Forwards — Adam Acosta, Jeff Cunningham, Atiba Harris, Jason Kreis, Jeff Rowland, Jamie Watson.
Midfielders — Mehdi Ballouchy, Nikolas Besagno, Chris Brown, Kenny Cutler, Christian Jimenez, Ryan Johnson, Chris Klein, Kevin Novak, Douglas Sequeira, Carey Talley, Seth Trembly, Andy Williams, Joey Worthen.
Defenders — Nelson Akwari, Paul Broome, Gustavo Cabrera, Willis Forko, Cameron Knowles, Eddie Pope, Daniel Torres.
Goalkeepers — Scott Garlick, Jay Nolly, Noah Palmer.