RSL gets winner-take-all Game 3 in Houston after penalty shootout win

SANDY — It was only right that Diego Luna got a chance to keep Real Salt Lake's season alive after scoring the lone goal in the team's opening playoff loss last week.

The 20-year-old player was the fifth penalty taker for RSL after a 1-1 tie in regulation and four straight makes to begin the shootout, in addition to a save from Zac MacMath on the first Houston shot.

Luna stepped up and buried it, giving RSL a 5-4 penalty win and an extra game in Houston Saturday to decide who advances in the MLS Cup Playoffs.

"I asked (Diego), 'Do you want to go fourth or fifth?' And he said fifth," head coach Pablo Mastroeni said. "This moment is about belief that you're gonna score, and so Diego stepped up — as he has in the last six or seven weeks — and hits one of the most clutch PKs for this group."

It didn't look like RSL would even make it to penalties for much of the game after going down 1-0 in the 28th minute at home on a penalty goal from Amine Bassi. Jefferson Savarino leveled the game in the 70th minute on a free kick after a flurry of chances following Chicho Arango entering the match early in the second half.

The RSL defense withstood five shots on goal from Houston to maintain the tie and sent the match to penalties after 90 minutes, as is the format for the first round of the playoffs.

MacMath had four saves in regulation and one very important save in the penalty shootout, setting up the game-winner for Luna. Luna said he was planning to take the fifth penalty all along and visualized it in his head before the shootout even began, telling MacMath as he received the ball, "Let's go to Houston."

The series now goes back to Texas, with Game 3 kicking off at 4 p.m. MST at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston on MLS Season Pass.

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