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SANDY, Utah (AP) - Mike Magee and Charlie Rugg scored early in the first half and the Los Angeles Galaxy coasted to a 2-0 victory over Real Salt Lake on Saturday night.
Brian Rowe became the first goalkeeper to earn a shutout in his MLS debut for the Galaxy (4-1-2) since Brian Perk in a 0-0 draw against Seattle on July 4, 2011.
Magee scored on a header in the sixth minute. Juninho fed him a cross off a free kick into the center of the box and Magee put a perfect touch on the pass as he headed it inside the right post.
Rugg scored in the 13th minute when Hector Jimenez found him in front of the goal on a cross from the right flank. Rugg outraced an RSL defender to the ball and simply tapped it in for the easy goal.
Salt Lake dropped to 3-4-2.
RSL and the Galaxy combined to score 20 goals over the last five meetings between the two clubs before Saturday night. Digging out of the early two goal hole proved difficult for Salt Lake without its top two goal scorers. Usual starting forwards Alvaro Saborio and Robbie Findley were sidelined by injuries. Saborio sat out with a left quad strain, while Findley missed the game because of a left adductor strain.
Injuries also had a major impact on Los Angeles. Four regular starters - Landon Donovan, Carlo Cudicini, Rbbie Keane and Todd Dunivant - missed the game. Donovan and Cudicini sat out with right leg strains, Dunivant was sidelined with left leg strain and Keane was out with a left ankle strain.
It marked the seventh straight game where the Galaxy used a different starting lineup.
RSL dominated possession throughout the first half and well into the second half. It allowed the team to create plenty of scoring chances, but Salt Lake could not turn them into goals.
A painful miss came during the 59th minute. Javier Morales nearly got Salt Lake on the board when he latched onto a cross from Tony Beltran and fired the ball down the center of the box. His shot was a bit too high and clipped the crossbar.
Salt Lake had another shot at avoiding the shutout four minutes into stoppage time. Olmes Garcia hit the crossbar with one shot and Morales hit the post with another, but that is as close as it got for RSL.
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