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SANDY — Real Salt Lake had three goals in five games entering Saturday's home contest against Charlotte FC, but exploded in the second half to double its season goal tally in the span of just six minutes to win 3-1 for its first home victory of 2023.
It was the fastest three-goal run for RSL since Javier Morales, Joao Plata and Chris Schuler scored three in five minutes in 2014.
"I think goals not only change the scoreboard, it changes momentum, and it changes the belief system," head coach Pablo Mastroeni said. "It brings belief into what you're doing, what your teammates are doing, and that it's working."
The home team was knocking on the proverbial door for 55 minutes and finally broke through in the 56th when Pablo Ruiz slammed home a shot from the edge of the box that bounced off the crossbar and into the goal.
Ruiz — and every other person at America First Field — let out a cathartic scream as the frustration built up over 304 scoreless minutes was all released at once. With the door on the floor now, RSL continued to invade the Charlotte goal, finding two more goals by Anderson Julio and Jefferson Savarino over the next six minutes.
The Sava goal, assisted by Andres Gomez, his second assist on the night. #RSL up 3-1 over Charlotte. pic.twitter.com/9sx592WIIU
— Caleb Turner (@calebturner23) April 9, 2023
With the sudden outburst of scoring and positivity, it was easy to forget that the game began in a similar fashion to RSL's last four games — all of which ended in defeat. The porous RSL defense allowed Charlotte's Karol Swiderski to get off a shot from the edge of the box and fell behind at home after 27 minutes.
Despite trailing on the scoreboard, the home team led in shots on goal with six in the first half — a sign of what was to come in the second half.
"The fans carried us through the game," Jasper Loffelsend said. "We knew once that one goal falls that we were gonna score two or three more; that's what happened. We finally got that off our chest a little bit."
The goals were the first of the season for all three players and served as a shot in the arm for a franchise and fan base reeling after back-to-back 4-0 defeats. Record transfer acquisition Andres Gomez assisted on two of the goals after struggling to impact the score sheet early in his tenure.
RSL travels to FC Dallas next week before returning home to take on the San Jose Earthquakes on April 22 at 7:30 p.m. MDT.
