Reid Roberts' Goal-Line Bicycle Kick Saves Earthquakes a Point at Toronto FC

Every great run needs a moment where the script nearly gets torn up. For the San Jose Earthquakes, that moment arrived in the 86th minute at BMO Field, when Dániel Sallói chipped the goalkeeper and Reid Roberts went airborne on his own goal line to hook the ball away.

Toronto FC and San Jose drew 1-1 on Saturday afternoon. Sallói scored inside two minutes, Preston Judd answered in the 13th, and the Western Conference leaders left Toronto with a point that Roberts can fairly claim as his own. The AP called his goal-line intervention a bicycle-kick save. San Jose's own recap described an overhead sliding clearance. Either way, it was the play of the afternoon.

Toronto Come Out Swinging

Toronto did not treat the league leaders with any reverence. According to the club, Sallói struck 110 seconds after kickoff, taking the ball on the left side of the box and bending a right-footed shot into the bottom right corner. ESPN credits Jonathan Osorio with the assist; Toronto's report and the AP also credited Markus Cimermancic, which TFC listed as his first assist for the club. Per Toronto, it was Sallói's team-leading fourth goal of the season.

San Jose needed 11 minutes to reply, and they did it the way good teams do: off a dead ball. Niko Tsakiris whipped in a set-piece delivery and Judd, arriving through the middle, finished from the center of the box into the top right corner. Per the AP, it was Judd's seventh goal of the season, matching his career high, and Tsakiris's seventh assist, tying LAFC's Son Heung-min for the league lead.

The rest of the half belonged to nobody. Toronto put together a run of attempts between the 21st and 41st minutes, but Emilio Aristizábal headed over from a corner and San Jose blocked shot after shot. The Quakes had their looks too. Judd glanced a header just wide in the 27th minute, Ousseni Bouda fired just over on the stroke of halftime, and Beau Leroux forced Luka Gavran into a save in stoppage time.

Survival Mode, Then Chaos

Toronto lost Lazar Stefanovic to injury at the break, and Micah Chisholm came on for his club debut. Toronto's report said the TFC II defender had signed a short-term agreement before the match and became the eighth player to debut for the Reds this season.

San Jose spent the opening part of the second half leaning on the door. Gavran saved a Jack Skahan shot from distance in the 50th minute. Tsakiris put a free kick over two minutes later, then went off in the 54th minute with what the AP called an apparent groin injury, with Nick Fernandez replacing him. Gavran was there again in the 61st to keep out a Judd header.

Then came the first big swing. In the 65th minute Judd had the ball in the net again, but video review ruled Skahan offside in the buildup and the goal came off, per San Jose. Bruce Arena threw on Paul Marie and Ian Harkes a minute later, and Toronto answered with Derrick Etienne Jr. and Deandre Kerr.

The Turning Point

The 86th minute. Etienne slid a through ball in behind, Sallói was clean through, and he lobbed San Jose goalkeeper Daniel. The ball was dropping in when Roberts, who had sprinted back, launched himself and cleared it off the line. That one swing of a boot kept the game level.

"After I saw the ball go in behind, I knew his only option was to chip the keeper, so I expected him to try it," Roberts said, per San Jose. "I was fortunate he didn't hit it a little harder, but I'm glad I stayed with it and was able to keep it out."

San Jose named him its Man of the Match. Toronto lost Zane Monlouis to an injury in stoppage time, with Walker Zimmerman coming on, and the six added minutes passed without another shot.

The Standouts

Reid Roberts gets the headline, but his whole back line spent the afternoon dealing with crosses. San Jose made 32 clearances to Toronto's 23.

Dániel Sallói was the most dangerous player on the field. He scored, took three shots, put two on target, and came within a defender's boot of a winner.

Luka Gavran made all three of the game's saves, stopping Leroux, Skahan and Judd.

Preston Judd scored, had another goal ruled out, and took four shots.

Stats That Matter

• Possession: San Jose 51.6 percent, Toronto 48.4.
• Shots on target: San Jose put four on target, Toronto two.
• Saves: Gavran made three. Daniel was not credited with any.
• Fouls: Toronto committed 17, San Jose seven.
• Crosses: San Jose tried 29 and completed five. Toronto completed seven of 21.

What It Means

San Jose move to 9-1-1 with 28 points, and San Jose's report said they kept sole possession of first in both the Western Conference and the Supporters' Shield race. Their six-game league winning streak ended, but per the club it had already tied the club record set in 2005, and they are now unbeaten in seven league games. On the road they have five wins and a draw. San Jose say the draw tied the MLS record for the longest unbeaten road streak to start a season; the AP noted they had been chasing a record for consecutive road wins to begin a season and will have to share it with the 2022 New York Red Bulls at five.

Arena was not handing out gold stars. "On the day, we didn't play well. There's no hiding from that," he said, per the club. "Usually, when you don't play well on the road, you go home with nothing, so getting one point is a positive."

Toronto sit at 3-5-3 with 14 points and have now gone five league games without a win: three draws, a loss to Atlanta, and this. San Jose's notes had Toronto sixth in the East. TFC host Atlético Ottawa in the Canadian Championship on Tuesday, then Inter Miami next Saturday. San Jose host Vancouver on May 9 in what the club billed as a meeting of the West's top two.

Closing Take

Roberts saw the future and stopped it, a little like Neo leaning back as the bullets slow down. Arena knows his side were flat, even if Roberts insisted San Jose deserved more than a point. Either way, teams that win Shields steal points on days like this. Asked about Vancouver, Roberts did not bother with nuance: "We're going to win. That's our mindset."

Stats from ESPN's match data. Additional details and postgame quotes as reported by the AP, San Jose Earthquakes and Toronto FC.