Marcel Hartel scored an equalizer in the 72nd minute Saturday night as St. Louis City SC tied visiting Real Salt Lake 1-1, extending their unbeaten streak to eight games.
Roman Burki made a pair of second-half saves for St. Louis (7-6-5, 26 points), who hasn’t lost since May 3. St. Louis outshot Salt Lake 18-7 in the draw.
Sergi Solans scored for Salt Lake (8-6-3, 27 points), who earned its first points since the World Cup break following back-to-back losses. Rafael Cabral recorded four saves as the club finished with one goal in its fourth straight game.
After St. Louis’ Conrad Wallem opened the second half with his second shot on goal — which were both saved by Cabral — Salt Lake finally recorded its first shot attempt of the match in the 54th minute. Stijn Spierings’ shot was blocked before Burki made his first save a minute later on Sam Junqua’s attempt to preserve the scoreless tie.
Salt Lake did push once across, though, when Saba Lobjanidze found Solans, who fired in a left-footed shot past the outstretched Burki to give the visitors a 1-0 edge. The tie-breaking goal was Solans’ seventh of the year.
St. Louis answered in the 72nd minute, when Hartel picked off Cabral’s pass and scored his team-leading sixth goal of the season.
Hartel had another opportunity in the 90th minute for a potential game-winner, but Cabral’s save on the last shot attempt of the night kept the game knotted at 1-1.
The closest either team got to scoring in the opening half was in the 18th minute, when Wallem’s left-footed shot from the right of the box was saved by Cabral.
St. Louis held possession for nearly 65% of the first half and recorded six total shots (just one on goal), while holding Salt Lake without a single attempt through 45-plus minutes.
–Field Level Media
