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SANDY — Real Salt Lake opened its home field, Rio Tinto Stadium, for the Major League Soccer 2013 season Saturday afternoon with a 1-1 draw over MLS opponent and Rocky Mountain rival the Colorado Rapids.
“I think that we feel that we should have done better,” said RSL head coach Jason Kreis. “We didn’t get all three points that we set out for. As I keep telling the guys, we’re just looking to improve day-by-day and week-by-week. We’re a young team, a new team, and that has to be our objective — we want to be the best at the end of the season.”
The Rapids hit the back of the net just minutes before the half in the 37th minute off a shot by Colorado forward Deshorn Brown, giving them a 1-0 lead over the Salt Lake side. The Salt Lake club answered back in the 80th minute off a goal by Costa Rican striker Alvaro Saborio.
“We were all over, we feel like we deserved something out of that,” said RSL forward Robbie Findley. “We were able to get it there at the end, a great goal, just one of those days I guess. Glad to come out with a point.”
The match was the first leg of this season’s Rocky Mountain Cup, and with the draw, each side took home one point. The race for the Rocky Mountain Cup will resume when RSL travels to Denver to face the Rapids for the second leg on April 6.
With the draw, RSL sits at 1-1-1 and four points on the season and Colorado earned its first point of the 2013 season, giving it a 0-2-1 record on the season.
Findley saw his return to Rio Tinto with a start and 67 minutes in the match, a return he was thankful for and has looked forward to since returning to the Claret and Cobalt.
“It was great,” Findley said of his return. “I missed the fans, it’s a great atmosphere, and it just feels like home again. Looking forward to the rest of the season here.”
The match also saw the Rio Tinto debut of three Claret and Cobalt players, midfielder Khari Stephenson, who started the match; forward Joao Plata, who entered the match for Findley in the 67th minute; and rookie forward Devon Sandoval, who entered the match for defender Lovel Palmer in the 79th minute.
RSL will hit the road this next week as it travels to face FC Dallas in Texas, a state it has yet to notch a victory in. RSL will return to Rio Tinto March 30 to host the Seattle Sounders.
Kira Terry is a sports writer covering Real Salt Lake for KSL.com. Follow her on Twitter, @kiraterry.
