RSL scores two second half goals to beat Vancouver

VANCOUVER, B.C. (ABC4 Sports) – Anderson Julio and Alexandros Katranis scored in the second half as Real Salt Lake rallied to hand the Vancouver Whitecaps its first loss of the season, 2-1.

Fidel Barajas had two assists in his first MLS start for Real Salt Lake (2-2-1, 7 points), which finished with a 21-7 edge in shot attempts. Zac MacMath made two saves.

Former RSL captain Damir Kreilach scored and Yohei Takaoka finished with three saves for Vancouver (2-1-1, 7 points), which came up short in its quest for its best four-game start in the team’s MLS history.

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It was Kreilach’s first MLS goal for the Whitecaps. The 34-year-old Croatian midfielder had scored 47 goals in his previous six seasons with RSL, the final two as captain.

Vancouver, which didn’t attempt a shot in the first 25 minutes, took a 1-0 lead in the 33rd minute when Brian White slotted a through pass between a pair of RSL defenders to Kreilach breaking into the middle of the box. Kreilach then booted a left-footed shot into the right corner of the net.

RSL, behind the play of 17-year-old midfielder Barajas, turned up the pressure in the second half. Barajas blasted a left-footed shot from outside the box off the far right post in the 54th minute and then hammered a left-footed shot off the underside of the crossbar two minutes later.

Barajas, a highly-touted duo international for Mexico and the United States, then displayed his playmaking skills in the 70th minute by slotting a pass past defenders to Julio in the middle of the box, where Julio booted a right-footed shot into the middle of the net to tie the game 1-1.

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Six minutes later, Barajas picked up another assist when Katranis, also making his first MLS start, floated a left-footed shot off his pass to the left-corner of the box over Takaoka and into the far right corner of the net for the game-winner.

RSL next hosts St. Louis Saturday at America First Field.

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