Paxten Aaronson scored a brace and Rafael Navarro added a goal and an assist to spark the Colorado Rapids to a 4-1 win over Sporting Kansas City in Kansas City, Kan., on Saturday.
Wayne Frederick scored the go-ahead goal in first-half stoppage time and Darren Yapi had an assist for the Rapids (3-2-0, 9 points).
Shapi Suleymanov found the back of the net on a Calvin Harris assist for Sporting KC (1-3-1, 4 points).
Just before halftime, Dante Sealy’s left-footed curling corner kick was turned away by SKC goalkeeper John Pulskamp’s punch save. But the SKC goalie fell off balance into the net and Frederick tapped in the rebound and Colorado took a 2-1 lead.
In the 12th minute, Aaronson chipped a Yapi pass over a diving Pulskamp as the Rapids took a 1-0.
Rapids’ goalkeeper Zack Steffen, who missed the previous two matches with a shoulder injury, was tested early when he made a kick save off a Dejan Joveljic shot from point-blank range in the 15th minute. In the 19th minute, the Rapids pulled Pulskamp out from the box but Yapi and Navarro had shots turned away.
Suleymanov netted the equalizer when he snuck a left footed shot inside the near post off a lead pass from Harris in the 44th minute.
Early in the second half, Steffen met another test when Suleymanov blasted a shot from just outside the box on a restart that the Colorado keeper turned away. Navarro’s sliding goal in the 71st minute extended the Colorado lead to 3-1.
Colorado poured it on when Navarro slipped a pass back to Aaronson for the brace in the 75th minute as the Rapids took a 4-1 lead .
The match got off to a chippy start, as Manu Garcia was issued a yellow card in the fifth minute as he lingered in front of a Colorado freekick. Even though the teams settled into a rhythm, each team was issued three yellow cards. Colorado racked up 21 fouls and SKC had 17. The Rapids held a 9-3 advantage in shots on goal.
–Field Level Media
