Real Salt Lake, Sporting Kansas City play to draw

[November 05, 2018]    Albert Rusnak scored a second-half goal and Diego Rubio answered with one of his own as Real Salt Lake and Sporting Kansas City played to a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the Western Conference semifinals on Sunday night.

No. 1 seed Kansas City put itself in good position heading into the second leg with Rubio's equalizer. SKC suffered a 4-2 loss on the road against Salt Lake in the regular season.

The second leg will be played in Kansas City on Nov. 11.

RSL, the No. 6 seed, will be without Rusnak in the match. He will be suspended because of yellow card accumulation after getting booked in the 26th minute.

Nick Rimando came up with a pair of big saves to keep Kansas City off the board in the first half.

He dove forward and knocked away a shot from Khiry Shelton in the ninth minute. Then, in the 25th minute, Felipe Gutierrez blasted it from 25 yards out. Rimando leaped high to push it over the crossbar and deny the would-be goal.

Salt Lake finally broke the ice behind Rusnak's goal in the 51st minute. Damir Kreilach volleyed it to the midfielder amid a cluster of defenders. Rusnak delivered a one-touch shot that he threaded perfectly inside the right post to put RSL up 1-0.

Kansas City answered with Rubio's 60th minute equalizer. A poor clearance by Rimando sent the ball right to Rubio. He teed up outside the top of the box and unleashed a blast inside the right post.

--Field Level Media

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