Real Salt Lake converted a three-goal offensive explosion in the first half into three road points at Chicago Fire FC, rolling to the 4-0 win on Saturday.

RSL Captain Chicho Arango led the way with two goals and two assists to extend his goal contribution lead atop the MLS race, now with eight goals and six assists. Tonight’s victory extends RSL’s unbeaten streak to five matches – last losing March 9 vs. Colorado – collecting 11 of a possible 15 points over that span.

Real Salt Lake started the affair with four changes to the lineup, as injuries to a pair of centerbacks thrust fullbacks Bode Hidalgo and Bryan Oviedo into the middle, in front of teenage goalkeeper Gavin Beavers. Additionally, 18-year-old playmaker Fidel Barajas made his second career MLS start, in place of U.S. Olympic hopeful Diego Luna.

In the 24th minute, as Alex Katranis controlled the ball along the left side, he played a beautiful give-and-go pass to Chicho in the middle, who returned the favor with a long ball down the left wing for Katrinis.

Picking his head up, Katranis spotted Andrés Gómez on the far corner of the box, connecting with a pinged pass. After receiving the ball with a clean touch, Gómez danced right to fake out a charging defender before cutting back to his left for a beautiful strike past Chicago keeper Chris Brady and into the near-post corner.

RSL maintained its pressure and pushed for another goal, finding it just nine minutes later.

As Matt Crooks and Gómez attempted to play a one-two down the right side, Federico Navarro intercepted the ball and, feeling the pressure, attempted to play it back to his goalkeeper in a panic.

Seemingly flying in out of nowhere, Arango ran onto the ball, intercepting it directly in front of net, and calmly finishing the one-on-one chance by nutmegging Brady while shooting with the outside of his right foot to put RSL up two.

In what could only be described as a flurry of goals, RSL would collect its third of the half just four minutes later in the 37th minute.

Oviedo unleashed a long, curling cross in a corner kick over the pack and towards the back post as an unmarked Arango lost his marker and blasted a powerful header past Brady for his second of the match. With the goal, Arango now leads the MLS Golden Boot race with eight goals.

Placing a cherry atop their dominant performance, RSL added a fourth goal in extra time.

Operating in the defensive third, Oviedo intercepted an errant Chicago pass and immediately started the fast break towards goal. Oviedo quickly found Arango on the right wing who then pinged a ball centrally for the run of Luna on the edge of the box.

As defenders backed off of Luna, respecting his passing ability and vision, he took ownership of the space, stepping forward into a right-footed shot that curled around a helpless Brady and into the near post side netting.

Real Salt Lake next plays at Philadelphia on April 27, with the game scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. MT.

Former Cougar scores in Utah Royals blowout loss at Louisville

Former BYU star Olivia Griffits notched her first NWSL goal but it wasn’t enough for the Utah Royals as they dropped their third straight game in a disappointing 5-1 loss to Racing Louisville at Lynn Family Stadium on Saturday.

After Utah had gone down 1-0, Griffits came through late in the first half to give the Royals a spark.

Griffitts received a through pass in the right half space from teammate Ally Sentnor, then took a first touch to evade the challenge of an onrushing defender and rifled a right-footed effort into the top left corner for the equalizer.

But Louisville would score four goals after the break to secure the comfortable win and hand Utah its worst defeat of the season.

The loss puts the early 2024 Utah Royals season record at 1-4-0. The Royals next return to action at home against the Houston Dash on Saturday, April 27, at America First Field. Kickoff is at 5:30 PM MT.

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