Sandy • As he prepared for his team’s first playoff game this week, Real Salt Lake midfielder Diego Luna wanted to embrace the buzz of the postseason while avoiding one aspect of it. Penalty kicks. “They’re not nerve-wracking,” he said.
“But we definitely never want to go to penalties in our stadium. There’s no point. We should be winning this in 90-minutes-plus.
” If only. Instead, Luna was forced to watch his team lose to Minnesota United in agonizing fashion, 5-4 on penalty kicks, in Game 1 of their best-of-three series on Tuesday night at America First Field. RSL goalkeeper Zac MacMath saved one of the six penalties he faced.
But defender Justen Glad sailed his attempt over the goal and midfielder Braian Ojeda gave United the victory when he pinged his attempt off the crossbar. “It‘s a crappy way to lose in soccer,” RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni said. “But if you don‘t put it in the back of the net, they’re happy with that.
They want to go to penalties.” RSL only got to that point thanks to MacMath’s goalkeeping. “Zac played like the Zac I know.
Kept us in the game, man,” Mastroeni said. “He stood on his head back there for us. And that’s what’s disappointing right? You have such a fantastic performance to keep it zeroes and we need to make plays.
” The veteran has prompted frustration, plenty of questions and even a brief benching during an up-and-down season. But on Tuesday night, MacMath was excellent in regulation. Stranded one-on.