Real Salt Lake's recent offensive resurgence continued, but three goals proved not to be enough Saturday night in a 4-3 defeat to the Western Conference-leading Houston Dynamo at Robertson Stadium. Dynamo FW Nate Jaqua notched the second hat trick of his career - with all three goals coming on assists by MF Corey Ashe - to pace the Dynamo (12-7-6, 42 pts.), who ended Real Salt Lake's (4-12-6, 18 pts.) brief winning streak at two games. RSL FW Kyle Brown's first career MLS goal eight minutes from time gave the visitors hope of stealing a point from a wild match, but the Utah side's comeback bid fell short as the squad saw the second of its four-game road stretch end in a loss.
The start of the match was déjà vu all over again for Real Salt Lake, as the Utah squad fell behind in the sixth minute of the match for a second straight weekend. This time around it was Jaqua doing the honors for the home side, as he redirected Ashe's cross from the left flank to give Houston a 1-0 lead. But unlike last week, Real Salt Lake would even up the match in quick fashion, as FW Fabian Espíndola scored his second of the season in the 18th minute to level the match at 1-1. Dynamo DF Richard Mulrooney appeared to beat Espíndola to a through ball inside the area from RSL MF Javier Morales, but Espíndola was able to muscle Mulrooney off the ball before striking an low-angled shot past Houston GK Pat Onstad and off the inside of the far right post to bring the match back to square.
The Dynamo would retake the lead off a free kick in the 28th minute, as Mulrooney floated a dead ball from 35 yards out right to the penalty spot, where Houston DF Eddie Robinson flashed in front of RSL DF Matías Mantilla and headed a shot to the left post and past a beaten RSL netminder Nick Rimando, the defender's first goal of the season giving Houston a 2-1 advantage. Real Salt Lake nearly equalized the next minute when FW Alecko Eskandarian found some space towards the top of the area, but he failed to get much on the low shot, which Onstad gathered easily for his first save of the night.
The Dynamo would dominate possession and keep RSL on its heels for the remainder of the half, nearly going ahead in the 41st when FW Joseph Ngwenya got behind the RSL backline, but Rimando raced towards the top of his area to take the ball off the Dynamo striker's foot. Robinson nearly notched his second off the match two minutes later with another header off a corner kick, but his nod for the upper right corner barely missed high.
Houston looked dangerous from the get-go after the halftime whistle, as Dynamo MF Dwayne De Rosario streaked into the RSL area just 30 seconds into the half, but the perennial MLS MVP candidate didn't take his chance cleanly, sending a weak dribbler from 12 yards to a kneeling Rimando. But two minutes later it would be De Rosario setting up the combination that scored Houston's first of the night, and a completely unmarked Jaqua would again redirect an Ashe cross past a helpless Rimando to push the Houston advantage to 3-1. Real Salt Lake had a quality free kick chance in the 51st minute set up when Espindola was fouled 23 yards straight out from goal, but the dead ball shot by his Argentine countryman Morales was punched away by an alert Onstad.
Jaqua nearly capped off a hat trick with another redirect from just outside the six-yard box in the 53rd minute, only to see the chance bounce inches wide of the far left post. But four minutes later the Ashe-Jaqua combo would indeed cash in for a third time, as Jaqua headed down Ashe's looping pass just past Rimando, seemingly putting the match out of reach at 4-1 Dynamo and giving Jaqua the second hat trick of his five-year MLS career.
The Houston attack failed to let up, and Rimando was twice called upon to keep the match within shouting distance in the aftermath of Jaqua's hat trick. Firstly, at the hour mark it was Rimando darting off his line to cut off the angle on Ngwenya, who poked his effort directly into the chest of the hard-charging Rimando. Five minutes later Rimando did well to stand his ground on De Rosario's 22-yard blast, using both hands to punch the shot clear of danger. Rimando's hard work was rewarded in the 69th minute when RSL MF Carey Talley beat Onstad to a corner kick by Morales and headed home just inside the left post, Talley's second goal of the season halving Houston's lead to 4-2.
With the Dynamo seemingly taking its foot off the gas and looking content to kill off the game, Real Salt Lake continued to chip away at the lead in the 82nd minute when Brown carried over his surging form in MLS Reserve Division play to RSL's first team by scoring his first career MLS goal. The Southlake, Texas native got on the end of a loose ball 10 yards from goal and poked the ball past Onstad to cut the Houston advantage to 4-3. Despite scoring multiple second half goals for the second straight contest, RSL's comeback bid ran out of gas in the waning minutes as the visitors were unable to create any dangerous moments following Brown's goal. The defeat pushed RSL's road record this season to 1-7-3 as it prepares for a pair of away contests across the next week.
Real Salt Lake will continue its road show this Wednesday, Sept. 12, when RSL will square off against a top-of-the-table D.C. United (13-6-4, 43 pts.) side at RFK Stadium in the Nation's Capital (5:30 p.m. MT; MLS Direct Kick Package). Real Salt Lake and the Dynamo still have work to do this weekend, as the Western Conference foes will square off in MLS Reserve Division action on Sunday morning. The RSL Reserves (3-4-0, 9 pts.) and Dynamo Reserves (2-4-2, 8 pts.) are set to take the field at Robertson Stadium at the University of Houston at 9:00 a.m. MT/10:00 a.m. CT.
