Sergi Solans Scores Twice as Real Salt Lake End 13-Match Winless Run With 3-0 Win Over Revolution

Real Salt Lake had gone four months without a league win. It took a 19-year-old academy product 114 seconds to start fixing that.

Aiden Hezarkhani scored in the second minute, Sergi Solans added two second-half goals, and Real Salt Lake beat the New England Revolution 3-0 on Saturday night at America First Field to snap a 13-match MLS winless streak. It was RSL's first league victory since May 16, and it came in front of 20,918 fans, the club's 16th consecutive home sellout.

114 Seconds to Exhale

RSL had not scored in 287 minutes of play, per the club, and the drought ended almost before anyone had settled into their seats. New England failed to clear a Dominik Marczuk cross, the ball dropped to Hezarkhani on the right, and he curled a left-footed shot from a tight angle into the top left corner, in off the underside of the bar. It was his third goal of the season and his first since March 7 at Atlanta.

From there, the Revolution had the ball and RSL had a plan. Joshua Wynder went close twice inside the first 13 minutes, Carles Gil missed from distance in the 23rd, and Rafael Cabral made back-to-back saves on Luca Langoni and Dániel Gazdag in the 28th and 29th. At the other end, Matt Turner kept the deficit at one in the 31st minute, when Morgan Guilavogui slid Solans through on goal and Turner stood his ground. Gil was booked as the teams went in at halftime, and RSL took a 1-0 lead to the locker room.

Solans Takes Over

The second half opened with another Solans-Turner duel, and Turner won it again in the 48th minute, getting down low at his near post. Three minutes later, Ethan Kohler hit the left post for New England off a corner, the closest the visitors came all night.

Langoni then went off injured in the 58th minute, replaced by Cody Baker, with Griffin Yow coming on for Wilson Harris. Wynder was booked in the 61st, and a minute later RSL doubled the lead. Noel Caliskan drove forward through the middle and slipped Solans in behind, and the rookie shrugged off the last defender before beating Turner with his right foot.

New England kept pushing. Cabral saved a Wynder header in the 65th minute and a Jackson Yueill strike from distance in the 76th, and Kohler headed wide two minutes later. Then RSL put it away in the 80th minute. Guilavogui, fed down the right by Marczuk, whipped in a cross, and Solans beat his defender to it and finished first time with his left foot from close range. Baker headed wide in the 85th, Gazdag had a point-blank effort blocked in the 90th, and RSL closed out its first MLS clean sheet since May 13.

The Rookie and the Kid

Solans finished with five shots, four on target and two goals, and he spent most of the night as the most dangerous player on the field. The goals were his first since Aug. 19 against FC Dallas, and they took him to 11 MLS goals and 15 across all competitions, per RSL. The club said he became only the sixth MLS SuperDraft pick ever to reach double-digit goals as a rookie. RSL's single-season MLS record, per the club, is 17, so the chase is officially on.

Hezarkhani, who rejoined the lineup in place of homegrown teammate Luca Moisa, away with the U.S. under-19 team, delivered the kind of opener that changes the mood of an entire building. Caliskan and Guilavogui each added an assist, and Guilavogui also drew four fouls. Cabral, the captain, made four saves and earned what the club counted as his third MLS clean sheet of the season.

For New England, Turner made three saves, which the Revolution said gave him 104 on the season, a new MLS career high. Gil had four key passes, per the club, and Wynder, making his first MLS start, attempted three shots. Wilson Harris made his first Revolution start, Griffin Yow created three chances in 33 minutes off the bench, and Javaun Mussenden made his MLS debut in the 68th minute.

Off the Post, Then Off the Mat

The turning point came in the 51st minute. Kohler's shot off the left post was New England's best chance to level, and if it goes in, a team that had not won since May could easily have tightened up. Instead, 11 minutes later, Solans made it 2-0, and New England never found a way back.

The Numbers

• Possession: New England 66.6 percent, Real Salt Lake 33.4 percent.
• Shots: New England 16, RSL 9. On target: RSL 6, New England 4.
• Corners: New England 11, RSL 1.
• Crosses: New England attempted 31 and completed eight; RSL completed none of its six.
• Clearances: RSL 34, New England 20.

What It Means

Real Salt Lake improved to 9-5-13 with 32 points, which the club said left it 12th in the Western Conference. The win came three days after a 2-0 loss at Seattle and, per RSL, despite a season-high 13 players missing through injury or international duty. The club also noted it has not lost to New England in Utah since July 2007, and that under head coach Pablo Mastroeni, RSL has 57 wins, 12 losses and 22 ties when scoring first since August 2021. One win does not erase a summer like this one, but in a tight Western Conference playoff race, it beats the alternative. RSL now gets a week off before visiting the Philadelphia Union on Oct. 10.

New England fell to 14-4-9 with 46 points. The loss ended a three-match winning streak that included road wins at New York City FC and Chicago Fire FC and a 4-2 home win over Orlando City SC. The Revolution host Seattle Sounders FC on Oct. 10.

Drought, Meet Downpour

Thirteen matches without a win is a full season of prestige TV with no happy episodes. Saturday was the finale where the lights finally come back on. RSL's own coverage leaned on the club's "xDawg" mentality, and for one night in Sandy, with a teenager scoring early, a rookie scoring twice and a captain keeping the door shut, it looked exactly like that.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Match notes as reported by Real Salt Lake (rsl.com) and the New England Revolution (revolutionsoccer.net).