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SANDY — Once again, 120 minutes wasn’t good enough to settle Real Salt Lake’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup round of 16 game Tuesday night.
But the penalty-kick shootout wasn’t as kind to the home team.
Goalkeeper Tyler Miller made a pair of saves during a penalty shootout to help Seattle Sounders FC advance to the quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup after a 1-1 draw at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Herculez Gomez, Jordan Morris and Zach Scott each converted a penalty kick for Seattle, and Miller saved a attempts by Joao Plata and Kyle Beckerman to give the Sounders a 3-1 advantage in the shootout. Eric Friberg clinched the shootout on the fourth penalty kick for the Sounders, who advanced to face the winner of Los Angeles and Portland in the West region finals.
Yura Movsisyan helped RSL take the early advantage, taking a backheel flick from Burrito Martinez — the only RSL player to convert in the shootout — before being dragged down inside the 18-yard box to earn a penalty kick for RSL in the first half.
Plata stepped up to the spot, and drilled it into the back of the net to open the scoring in the 43rd minute.
RSL out-shot Seattle 6-5 in the opening 45 minutes, but the Salt Lake defense held the Sounders without a shot on goal for a 4-0 advantage to preserve Jeff Attinella’s first-half shutout.
Seattle was held without a shot on target until the 51st minute, when Nelson Valdez took advantage of an empty net and split central defenders Justen Glad and Aaron Maund to rip a close-range shot and level the score, 1-1.
Attinella made a reflex save in the 57th minute to register his first of two saves in regulation in the match.
Maund nearly pulled the go-ahead goal in the 78th minute when he rose up to connect with Javier Morales’ free kick. But the towering center back’s header was just wide of Sounders goalkeeper Tyler Miller.
Martinez ripped a shot down the middle from the top of the box that Miller tucked over the crossbar in the final moments of second-half stoppage time to force extra time.
Attinella made three saves, and Miller matched his effort in his own goal to send the match into penalty kicks after two 15-minute extra-time sessions.
RSL was looking to continue toward its first Open Cup title against the four-time champion Sounders, who are tied for the most titles in tournament’s modern (post-MLS) era.
Salt Lake returns to MLS play Friday when it hosts D.C. United.
