Jorge Ruvalcaba scored a pair of first half goals on Saturday night to help the visiting New York Red Bulls earn a 2-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City.
Ethan Horvath made seven saves for New York (6-5-4, 22 points), which extended its unbeaten streak to four (3-0-1).
Calvin Harris scored a second-half goal for Kansas City (3-9-2, 11 points), which had won its previous two matches. Stefan Cleveland had two saves for Sporting, who sit at the bottom of the Western Conference standings.
Saturday marked the last game for both sides before the nearly two-month break for the World Cup.
New York struck first in the fourth minute, as Ruvalcaba netted his sixth goal of the season. Gustav Berggren found Ruvalcaba, who made two dribbles to the left of the box and scored past to the left of Cleveland.
Sporting had a pair of early chances to pull even, but Horvath saved attempts from Taylor Calheira and Harris.
Ruvalcaba and Berggren each had missed attempts in the 32nd minute, but New York doubled its lead just before halftime, as Ruvalcaba scored again, this time off a fast-break assist from Julian Hall.
New York had just two shots on target in the first half, scoring on both. Three of Kansas City’s eight first-half shots were on goal.
Kansas City cut its deficit in half in the 64th minute, as Manu Garcia assisted Harris on a right-footed connection from the center of the box. The goal was Harris’ second strike of the season.
Stephen Afrifa had a chance to tie the game in the 78th minute, but missed wide right.
Sporting had another opportunity in the 86th minute, but Dejan Joveljic’s left-footed attempt from outside of the box was saved by Horvath.
The hosts dominated the final stats, controlling over 57% of the possession time, attempting more shots (15-10), corners (6-1) and crosses (14-1).
–Field Level Media
