Real Salt Lake may have struggled to a 2-1 overtime victory over the Virginia Beach Mariners, but besides simply getting the result, Salt Lake was able to finally put the ball in the goal.
Jeff Cunningham's penalty-kick goal in the 28th minute broke a 272-minute scoreless streak for RSL. After being shut out in its previous two games, the team had failed to find the back of the net since the 25th minute of its game at Chicago. However, the goal does not count toward the MLS stats, and the team is still moving toward its own dubious record of scoreless minutes of 557 in league play.
Besides breaking out of a team scoreless streak, Andy Williams' tally in the 93rd minute from 25 yards was last season's MVP's first goal of the season. Although he had several near-misses, including a shot that bounced off the crossbar Saturday at the Galaxy, Williams had played 649 minutes of soccer this season without scoring before the breakthrough.
"A great goal by Andy . . . We knew we just needed one, and Andy took care of that," said Ellinger of Williams goal in overtime.
LIGHTNING STRIKES: For the second time this year, Real faced a delay for lightning. In the 61st minute, the referees deemed it too dangerous to continue. Once the decision was made, a mandatory 30-minute delay was enforced, and it was 36 minutes before play resumed. Last month the team experienced a 58-minute delay in Chicago and came out flat, giving up two goals. This time Real reacted differently.
"We really just addressed the focus issue," Ellinger said of what the team did in the locker room during the break.
LET'S PLAY MORE: RSL has twice played in the Lamar Hunt Open Cup, and twice it has gone to overtime. Major League Soccer does not play overtime during the regular season, so the two appearances in the cup are the only two overtime games in franchise history. Real evened its overtime record at 1-1 with the 2-1 win. Last season the team succumbed to Minnesota, giving up two goals in the extra stanza to lose 4-6.
WHO ARE THESE GUYS? There were plenty of new faces on the field to begin the game. In the starting 11, only Carey Talley and Kevin Novak were there in the last match at Los Angeles. Cameron Knowles was the only starter making his first appearance with the big squad, but Joey Worthen joined him in a first appearance when he replaced Talley in the 61st minute after the lightning delay. Nikolas Besagno, Jay Nolly and Jamie Watson made their first starts on the year.
VIVA MEXICO: General Manager Steve Pastorino confirmed that Real will indeed be matching up with the popular club team from Mexico, Morelia, Wednesday, July 19. The exhibition match had been rumored to be a done deal for some time, but the contracts were finally finished this week. The match will be Bonus Game D for season ticket holders.
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