Paul Arriola Sets Up Both as Seattle Sounders Beat Real Salt Lake 2-0 to End 13-Match MLS Winless Run

One 13-match league winless run ended at Lumen Field on Wednesday night. Another one reached 13. Funny how the soccer gods like their symmetry.

Danny Musovski and Albert Rusnák scored from outside the box in the second half, Paul Arriola set up both, and the Seattle Sounders beat Real Salt Lake 2-0 for their first league win since May 13. For RSL, the loss stretched a club-record winless streak to 13 matches and made it three straight games without a goal. Two former RSL players did the damage, which only made it sting more for the visitors.

A Quiet First Half, Then a Thunderclap

The first 45 minutes were a grind. Seattle had the better of the early chances, with Cristian Roldan heading a Rusnák corner high and wide in the third minute and Arriola dragging a left-footed chance just wide of the near post in the 15th. Two minutes later, Arriola had another look from the center of the box, and former Sounder DeAndre Yedlin got in the way. RSL's best effort came right before the break, when rookie striker Sergi Solans worked some space on the left and fired high and wide. Neither team put a shot on target in the first half, and the officials did not bother adding any time.

Brian Schmetzer changed things at the break, sending on Stuart Hawkins and Peter Kingston for Alex Roldan and Kalani Kossa-Rienzi. Three minutes later, Seattle led.

Arriola, on the ball in the middle of the field, shifted it to Musovski on the right, and the striker ripped a shot from the edge of the area into the bottom right corner in the 48th minute. Per the Sounders, it was his second MLS goal of the season and first since May 9.

RSL nearly hit back immediately. In the 49th minute, Solans got on the end of a Noel Caliskan pass on the left side of the box, and Andrew Thomas got across to save it in the top left corner. That stop kept the Sounders in front at the moment they were most vulnerable.

The middle of the half was messy. Kingston, Snyder Brunell and Kobi Henry were all booked between the 50th and 57th minutes. RSL had its best spell around the hour, with Morgan Guilavogui and Samuel Junqua seeing shots blocked and Guilavogui sending another one high. Jordan Morris came on for Musovski in the 63rd minute, and Rafael Cabral saved from Arriola in the 67th.

Then Seattle put it away on the break. The Sounders broke quickly after winning possession, Arriola fed Rusnák, and the midfielder drilled a low right-footed shot from distance into the bottom left corner in the 73rd minute. It was his fourth goal of the season, according to the club, and his first in MLS play since May 13.

Cabral made a diving save on a Nouhou Tolo free kick in the 89th minute, and Thomas stopped Dominik Marczuk in stoppage time to finish off the clean sheet. Real Monarchs regular Liam O'Gara made his MLS debut for RSL in the 88th minute, which the club called the highlight of the evening for the visitors.

Arriola Made It Happen

Arriola was the best player on the field. Two assists, three shots, one on target. Musovski and Rusnák each needed just one shot to score, but Arriola was the one who created both looks. He also captured the mood afterward better than anyone.

"No one is going to care if we play pretty, if we build out of the back, if we score a goal after 20 passes," Arriola said. "It's just going to matter the three points."

Thomas deserves a share of the credit too. He made two saves, and the one on Solans right after the opener may have been the most important play of the night.

Musovski, getting the start up front with Dejan Joveljic away on international duty with Serbia, made the most of it. "It was a result that we needed to have today," he said. "It feels so good to win."

On the other side, Guilavogui took three shots and drew three fouls, but RSL put only two shots on target all night.

The Save That Saved the Night

The turning point came in the 49th minute. Seattle had just scored after a first half with no shots on target from either team. A quick RSL equalizer would have dragged everyone right back into the anxiety of a long winless run. Instead, Thomas got down to keep out Solans, and the Sounders played the rest of the half with a lead and growing belief. When Rusnák's strike went in 24 minutes later, the ending was written.

The Numbers

• Shots: RSL 12, Seattle 11. On target: Seattle 4, RSL 2.
• Possession: Seattle 52.8 percent, RSL 47.2 percent.
• Saves: Two apiece for Thomas and Cabral.
• Corners: Seattle 7, RSL 6.
• Clearances: RSL made 30 to Seattle's 22.

What It Means Out West

Seattle improved to 8-8-9 with 32 points. The Sounders' winless run had stretched across eight straight league losses, which the club called a club record, and then five straight draws, and this was the first of three straight home matches. According to the club, Seattle climbed from 14th to 10th in the Western Conference with the win, tied on points for the West's final postseason place with a match in hand. Minnesota United visits on Saturday.

"We've been building some momentum, but this really gives them a lot of belief," Schmetzer said.

RSL fell to 8-5-13 with 29 points. Per the club, the 13-match winless streak broke a record that had stood since the 2005 expansion season, and RSL has gone 284 minutes without scoring. Its last win came on May 16 against Colorado, and it has not won away from home since March 7 at Atlanta. The clubs have now won one meeting apiece this season, after RSL won 2-1 at home in February. RSL hosts New England on Saturday.

Monday Morning Film Session, Wednesday Edition

Arriola already has the next step mapped out: "Postgame, we all feel really good, but the reality is that we kind of have to turn it around, get in tomorrow, start to watch film and get ready for the weekend." That is the right instinct. One win does not erase a winless run that stretched from May to September, but it does make the next one feel possible. RSL, meanwhile, are stuck in the opposite movie, a Groundhog Day loop in which every week ends the same way. Somebody needs to change the alarm clock.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes and match notes as reported by the Seattle Sounders (soundersfc.com) and Real Salt Lake (rsl.com).