Solans' brace, assist powers Real Salt Lake to 4-2 win over San Diego

SANDY — Trialist 22 came to play.

Sergi Solans scored his first professional brace, and added an assist as Real Salt Lake stretched its unbeaten run to six-straight matches with a 4-2 win over San Diego FC in front of an announced crowd of a season-high 20,852 fans Saturday night at America First Field.

Diego Luna added a goal and two assists for Salt Lake (5-1-1, 16 points), and Morgan Guilavogui — the high-priced Designated Player in his first season with the club after signing from French side RC Lens — added a goal and an assist in the win.

In six matches that include five starts, Guilavogui has a goal and four assists since the Ollioules, France native joined RSL ahead of the 2026 preseason.

Which is why when Solans — while riding a hat trick in the 45th minute that would've been his first since the former UCLA striker scored three goals last November in a 5-0 win over Michigan — could've had a chance to ice the match himself with a much-deserved triplicate, his most important move was a pass.

"When I got the ball, I thought I needed to keep driving and score the hat trick," Solans said. "But then I had Morgan behind me, and I truly thought it was better to give him the assist so he could score his first goal.

"He's been an amazing player for us, even though he was not scoring. So give him the confidence in front of goal," he added. "But I was looking for the hat trick, too. At that point, I just needed to be a good person and pass the ball to Morgan."

Scoring goals is important for a 23-year-old striker like Solans, who says he's "still not very good with the ball" after scoring his team-high fifth goal in seven appearances including five starts. But he's also a striker well-beyond his years, head coach Pablo Mastroeni said, showing qualities — in scoring, in hold-up play, and in his defensive press — that usually "years" for such young players to develop.

And when Guilavogui needed a goal, Solans knew just what to do.

"He's made our attack exponentially better without scoring a goal," Mastroeni said of Guilavogui, who received a game ball signed by the team in honor of his first MLS goal. "He had a couple of chances early on, but now that he's hit the back of the net, I think it takes a little pressure off.

"I'm always telling him to be more selfish," Mastroeni added. "But he sets up his teammates so well. He's going to make our team better in every phase of the game, and today he got what he deserved — which was his first goal."

Salt Lake couldn't have started much better.

Luna forced a turnover less than 10 yards from goal, picking off a pass out of the back and one-timing a shot in the fifth minute to put the hosts in front. Less than two minutes later, Solans doubled the advantage, rising up to meet a header from Luna that put RSL up 2-0 by the end of the sixth minute.

Before nearly a third of the stadium had found its seat in a stadium with a newly crowded concourse designed to add additional seating ahead of Wednesday's home match against Inter Miami, the visitors struck, too.

Marcus Ingvartsen pulled one back in the 14th minute, breaking the shutout with a left-footed lace past goalkeeper Rafael Cabral.

But Solans restored the two-goal advantage, putting home another well-timed dish from Zavier Gozo in the 38th minute to push the hosts back up 3-1.

The rookie from Lleida, Spain by way of a collegiate career at Oregon State and UCLA then set up Guilavogui for the Designated Player's first goal in MLS play. The Spaniard took a pass from Luna in the 45th minute, found the Frenchman as two San Diego defenders stepped toward him, and laid off a short pass to set up Guilavogui with a shot inside the far post to give Salt Lake a 4-1 halftime advantage.

It's the first time Real Salt Lake scored two goals in a match since June 1, 2024 against Austin FC, including the earliest match with two goals since Gozo and Luna both scored in the first five minutes May 24, 2025 in a 3-2 loss to Vancouver.

"That's the best start you can ask for, two goals in like six minutes," RSL defender Alex Katranis said. "But the thing is, how do you handle that? And I think when they got one goal to come back into the game, the response we had after that scoring two more goals in the first half was massive.

"I'm very happy with the guys that are in front of me."

After out-shooting San Diego (3-3-2, 11 points) 15-3 in the first 65 minutes, RSL was whistled for a foul in the penalty area and Anders Dreyer slotted home a left-footed finish to pull the visitors within 4-2.

But Rafael Cabral made three saves to keep the visitors at bay and keep Salt Lake in a tie for third in the Western Conference four days before hosting Inter Miami.

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