Paxten Aaronson’s first-half penalty kick lifted the Colorado Rapids to a 1-0 victory over CF Montreal on Saturday in Commerce City, Colo.
Colorado (11-12-2, 35 points) goalkeeper Nico Hansen recorded five saves to register his seventh clean sheet of the season. Sebastian Breza also had five saves for Montreal (5-14-6, 21 points).
The Rapids earned the penalty in the 41st minute when Donavan Phillip carried the ball wide before cutting inside the 6-yard box, where he was taken down by Viktor Radojevic.
On the ensuing attempt two minutes later, Aaronson chopped his feet on the approach. Breza dove to his right, but Aaronson sent the ball the opposite way to convert for his sixth goal of the season. Aaronson has tallied a goal in consecutive matches.
Earlier, Montreal started the match on the front foot, forcing Hansen to make saves in the second, 10th and 13th minutes on shots from Radojevic, Prince Owusu and Dante Sealy.
In the 17th minute, Phillip outran a defender and tried to thread a pass to Darren Yapi in traffic inside the box. Yapi couldn’t control the initial pass, but the ball bounced across the face of the goal. He managed a backheel flick that forced Breza to scramble and secure the loose ball wide of the frame.
Keegan Rosenberry delivered an in-swinging kick off a restart in the 40th minute that found Rob Holding bursting through the defensive line for a header that hit the crossbar from close range.
Later, Breza dove to turn away a low, hard shot from Hamzat Ojediran. Wayne Frederick blasted the deflection on target, but Breza rose to slap it away in the 70th minute.
The Rapids continued to threaten in the 75th minute when Aaronson’s shot from outside the box was saved by Breza in the middle of the net.
–Field Level Media
