Sporting Kansas City striker Chance Myers scored twice in the first half as Sporting KC defeated Real Salt Lake 2-0 on Tuesday in a Reserve League match at the Sporting Club Training Center in Swope Park.
Myers, who nearly opened the scoring in the game’s first minute on a shot tipped over the crossbar by Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Tim Melia, gave Sporting KC the lead in the 30th minute off a free kick from the left side, following a foul on midfielder Scott Lorenz. Forward Milos Stojcev delivered an arching cross to the backpost for Myers to volley into the upper right corner.
The former overall No. 1 draft pick then doubled Sporting Kansas City’s advantage in the 44th minute, capitalizing on the effort of rookie C.J. Sapong to win the ball from two Real Salt Lake defenders. Sapong laid the ball back for Myers at the top of the penalty area and the UCLA product struck his shot past Melia.
Myers came close to a hat-trick in the 73rd minute, when his shot from 35 yards out caught Melia off-guard but the ambitious attempt whistled wide of the far post.
Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Eric Kronberg earned the shutout, his second in all competition for KC this season, denying Real Salt Lake midfielder Nelson Gonzalez multiple times throughout the match and making a stop on striker Maikon Orellana in the 60th minute.
On the opposite end, Melia made the best save of the match in the 26th minute, getting a hand to the header from Sporting Kansas City defender Shavar Thomas off a set piece from Lorenz.
With the win, Sporting KC improves to 1-1-0 in Central/Mountain Division play, while Real Salt stands at 1-2-0, all by 2-0 scorelines, in the 10-game Reserve League season.
Real Salt Lake’s reserves will next face the Houston Dynamo on May 15th at XanGo Field. Sporting KC will return to action in the Reserve League on May 17th at the Chicago Fire.
Sporting KC: Eric Kronberg; Seth Sinovic, Shavar Thomas, Matt Besler, Kevin Ellis; Scott Lorenz (Roger Espinoza 68), Craig Rocastle (Korede Aiyegbusi 80), Stephane Auvray (Graham Zusi 51); Chance Myers (Seo-In Kim* 87), Milos Stojcev, C.J. Sapong (Wes White* 87)
Subs Not Used: Mike Jones, Jon Kempin
Real Salt Lake: Tim Melia, Donny Toia, Rauwshan McKenzie, Phanuel Kavita, Julio Alarcon, Nelson Gonzalez, Jean Alexandre, Luis Gil, Collen Warner (Ricardo Velasco* 80), Maikon Orellana, Conor Chinn (Nicolo Muniz 70)
Subs Not Used: Eduardo Fernandez
Scoring Summary:
SKC – Chance Myers 1 (Milos Stojcev 1) 30
SKC – Chance Myers 2 (C.J. Sapong 1) 44
Disciplinary Summary:
SKC -- Graham Zusi (caution, Tactical Foul) 61
SKC – Kevin Ellis (caution; Professional Foul) 79
RSL – Ricardo Velasco (caution; Reckless Foul) 85
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