Dallas jumps ahead early, extends Real Salt Lake's skid

Santiago Moreno and Kaick scored goals midway through the first half and Samuel Sarver added a stirring tally in stoppage time as FC Dallas defeated Real Salt Lake 3-1 on Saturday in Frisco, Texas.

Dallas (5-3-4, 19 points) has captured back-to-back wins for just the second time this season and pulled even on points with Real Salt Lake (6-4-1, 19 points) for sixth place in the Western Conference.

RSL have dropped three of their past four games.

Moreno put Dallas on top in the 18th minute, running through traffic to receive a pass from Petar Musa just outside the box. Moreno steadied the ball three times before unleashing a right-footed shot that split two RSL defenders and found the bottom-left corner of the goal past diving goalkeeper Rafael Cabral.

Four minutes later, Musa sprinted out of his own end off a pass from Moreno and dribbled the ball into the box before testing Cabral with a shot that the RSL keeper could only deflect away. Kaick pounced on the rebound, making short work of the chance with an open goal.

Real Salt Lake nearly found the net with their only shot on goal in the first half. Noel Caliskan hit a high, curving left-footed shot from outside the box toward the upper right corner that Dallas goalkeeper Michael Collodi leaped to bat over the crossbar in the 33rd minute.

Diego Luna trimmed RSL's deficit in half in the 85th minute when he turned around a pass from Morgan Guilavogui and beat Collodi with a right-footed shot into the far corner. Alexandros Katranis also garnered an assist on the goal by making the pass that started the scoring play.

That set the stage for Sarver, who had entered as a substitute in the 75th minute.

Sarver gathered a loose ball deep in his own side of the field two minutes into stoppage time and sprinted down the pitch, first splitting two RSL defenders near midfield and then shrugging off the attempted tackle from Katranis just outside the box. He then calmly pushed a shot past Cabral for the clinching goal.