Man of the Match: **Pablo Ruiz** made his 100th appearance against D.C. United, and topped the occasion off with a career-defining performance. The Argentinian was clinical in the midfield, and spear-headed RSL’s connecting play through the attacking third of the pitch. The night will be most remembered by his Goal-of-the-Year worthy strike in the 41st minute. Aware of how high D.C. United’s goalkeeper Tyler Miller was pushing, Ruiz received a pass from **Andrew Brody** and promptly turned, hitting a left-foot strike from over 60 yards out to sail into the top corner over a frantically retreating Miller.
Telling Stats: The scrappy 2-1 win in D.C. extends RSL’s road record to 4-3-2 on the season, good for best road record in the Western Conference. The team is now unbeaten in 13 of the last 15 matches since April 22 across all competitions. It is the second-ever win in Club history in the District, moving the all-time record to 2-8-3 in the nation’s capital. Homegrown face-of-the-franchise **Justen Glad** made his 200th appearance, the first Homegrown player in Club history to hit the benchmark.
What You Missed: Real Salt Lake started with their foot on the gas pedal, and **Andrés Gómez** had a number of chances in the opening moments of the match in the attacking third. In the 26th minute D.C. United’s Steven Birnbaum was shown a red card for holding **Danny Musovski** back from an imminent 1v1 opportunity, reducing the hosts to 10 men with well over half the match to play. With a man advantage and all the momentum, RSL opened the scoring courtesy of a wonder strike from Pablo Ruiz, who hit the ball from half field catching goalkeeper Tyler Miller off his line. RSL doubled its lead six minutes into the second half when Gómez put in a cross for Musovski, who opened his hips and slid it past Miller. D.C. United would pull one back in the 53rd minute when Chris Durkin slotted a shot past **Zac MacMath** from short range. The next 40 minutes would be an absolute dog fight, with 10-manned D.C. United trying to score a game-tying goal. Despite being unable to put the match away with another tally, RSL held down the fort in the backline and took three points from D.C. in a 2-1 win.
What’s Next?: Real Salt Lake continues its road trip to the Gateway City to take on new expansion franchise St. Louis City SC on Wednesday, June 21 at 6:30 p.m. MT. before returning home to America First Field to face Minnesota United on June 24 at 7:30 p.m. MT.
