Dayne St. Clair’s Penalty Heroics Propel Minnesota United to Western Conference Semis

Minnesota United’s playoff run continued in spectacular fashion as they advanced to the Western Conference semifinals after defeating Real Salt Lake 2-0 in a best-of-three series thanks to penalties. Dayne St. Clair’s spectacular goalkeeping in the shootout sealed the victory after the Loons held RSL to a 1-1 draw in regular time.

Joseph Rosales scored Minnesota’s first goal of the season in the 53rd minute after sprinting up the left flank and finding the bottom corner. The Loons took the lead thanks to a well-executed break, which also forced RSL to react.

RSL’s Stoppage Time Tension and Late Equalizer

With fifteen minutes left, Emeka Eneli of Real Salt Lake answered by finishing inside the box after a brief exchange with two teammates to tie the score. The game proceeded to penalties following a taxing ten minutes of stoppage time.

Both teams scored on their first attempts in the penalty shootout, but Dayne St. Clair made two vital saves and Sang-Bin Jeong maintained composure to help Minnesota win the penalty shootout for the second time in a row. Now that they are moving forward, the Loons maintain their aspirations of making the playoffs and send RSL home sooner than anticipated.