Victor Olatunji's Late Equalizer Earns Real Salt Lake a 2-2 Draw at San Diego FC

Victor Olatunji had been on the field for 18 minutes when the ball dropped to him at the back post. San Diego FC had been in front for 29. Only one of those numbers ended up mattering.

The Real Salt Lake substitute poked home Morgan Guilavogui's cross from point-blank range in the 85th minute, and the visitors walked out of Snapdragon Stadium with a 2-2 draw on Sunday. Sergi Solans headed RSL in front, Marcus Ingvartsen and Anders Dreyer turned it around, and then the home side's evening unraveled in front of 24,141 fans. Four minutes after the equalizer, center back Christopher McVey was sent off for a second yellow card.

Solans Strikes, Then Chaos Takes Over

The opener was simple, sharp soccer. In the 17th minute Solans moved the ball wide to Juan Manuel Sanabria, sprinted into the box and met the return cross with a header into the bottom right corner. RSL called it the rookie's second goal of the season.

San Diego's reply was the opposite of tidy. Ten minutes later, off a set piece, Rafael Cabral saved a Jeppe Tverskov header, Ingvartsen had a shot blocked, and then Ingvartsen got a second swing and finished left-footed from point-blank range. Three attempts, one sequence, 1-1. Pinball, but it counts.

Then came a siege from the other direction. During seven minutes of first-half stoppage time, Zavier Gozo fired twice, Solans nodded a corner over, and in one frantic minute Guilavogui, Lukas Engel and Solans all had shots blocked. Somehow it stayed level.

Dreyer Punishes the Pressure

Pablo Mastroeni sent Diego Luna on for Aiden Hezarkhani at halftime, and the change lit a fire. Luna set up Gozo for two near misses within six minutes, and Duran Ferree had to save from Guilavogui in the 55th.

Then San Diego hit back. In the 56th minute Amahl Pellegrino found Dreyer in the center of the box, and the forward's left-footed shot went straight down the middle for 2-1. San Diego's recap said Pellegrino ran onto a long ball from McVey; ESPN logged it as following a set piece. The club counted it as Dreyer's third MLS goal of the season and Pellegrino's third assist.

A San Diego penalty shout was checked by VAR in the 61st minute and waved off. Mikey Varas then brought on Aníbal Godoy and Wilson Eisner, the latter making his MLS debut, according to the club.

Mastroeni's Double Change Flips the Script

The turning point arrived in the 67th minute, when Mastroeni sent on Stijn Spierings and Olatunji for Griffin Dillon and Solans. Olatunji tested Ferree within a minute, and the pressure built. Guilavogui headed a Luna corner wide in the 81st, Olatunji had a close-range effort blocked, and Ferree saved from Sanabria in the 84th, conceding a corner.

Moments later, a corner situation broke San Diego. Guilavogui took the ball on the right from Noel Caliskan and curled a cross across the box past several defenders, and Olatunji was waiting to tap it in with his left foot. RSL's player spotlight said the ball eluded both Spierings and Justen Glad before reaching the Nigerian at the back post. McVey, booked in that same 85th minute, collected his second yellow for a foul on Caliskan in the 89th and will miss the next match, per San Diego.

The eight added minutes were RSL's to win. Olatunji headed over from a Luna corner and then forced one more save from Ferree with another header. San Diego's best look was a Manu Duah header that flew high and wide.

Who Mattered Most

Olatunji was the story. He came off the bench and took five shots, four of them on target, in roughly half an hour including stoppage time. RSL called it his first goal of the 2026 season. That is how you make a case for more minutes.

Guilavogui did everything but score. Five shots and the assist that saved the night; RSL's own spotlight called him the squad's quarterback, and on this evidence that's a fair job title.

For San Diego, Ingvartsen took five shots and put two on target; the club said it was his fourth goal of the MLS season. Ferree made four saves in his fourth MLS start, though San Diego noted he had allowed his first career goal in MLS. Cabral matched him with four saves.

The home side's goalkeeper took the result to heart. "Of course, we're pretty disappointed about this result, because we have very high, high expectations for ourselves," Ferree said.

Stats That Matter

• Possession: San Diego 58.5 percent, with 579 passes to RSL's 400.
• Shots: RSL 21, San Diego 15. On target, RSL led 8 to 6.
• Tackles: RSL made 20 tackles and won 15. San Diego won 4 of 9.
• Clearances: RSL 31, San Diego 18, which tells you who spent more time defending its own box.
• Saves: Four apiece for Ferree and Cabral.

What It Means

San Diego is 3-2-0 with 11 points and still unbeaten in MLS play, but after three straight wins it has drawn twice in a row. The club said this was its first home draw of the season and the first time it had allowed a goal at home in MLS play this year.

Varas didn't sugarcoat it. "I think a lot of things are working. I mean, sitting on 11 points to start the season, it's not too bad," he said. "And at this point, when you tie games that you know, when you play your best you should win, it has to be disappointing."

He blamed cheap turnovers. "We gave up way too many long transitions today. And when you do that, it's a coin toss," he said.

Ingvartsen put it more bluntly, saying the draw "more feels like losing the points right now."

Real Salt Lake moves to 3-1-1 with 10 points and is unbeaten in four since losing at Vancouver on opening day. The club arrived chasing its first four-game winning streak since the summer of 2013, per RSL. That didn't happen, but a late road point is nothing to wave away. After the international break, RSL hosts Sporting Kansas City and San Diego visits San Jose on April 4.

Closing Take

San Diego spent the first month playing like the main character. On Sunday the plot twisted in the final scene, and Varas took the long view. "At the same time, we have to remember that not everything is going to be rosy and easy," he said. RSL's bench made sure of it.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes as reported by San Diego FC; additional notes from Real Salt Lake.