SANDY, Utah (AP) — Andrés Gómez had two goals in the first half and added an assist to give Real Salt Lake a 3-0 home-opening win over LAFC in a game played in a near blizzard on Saturday.
The start of the game was pushed back two hours because of the weather and just a couple minutes in was delayed almost an hour because of lightning.
Gómez took a feed from Cristian Arango, made a nice touch on the slick field to get around the last defense and beat keeper Hugo Lloris one-on-one in the 18th minute.
Scoring in a winter wonderland ❄️ pic.twitter.com/aB4Z1nmQBf
— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) March 2, 2024
Gómez, who had one goal last season, got his second in the 41st minute when he took a back pass from Diego Luna and sent a ball into the corner.
Gómez sent a cross into the box during first-half extra time and a sliding Arango redirected the ball into the net. He then made a snow angel to celebrate the goal against his former team.
The city of snow angles pic.twitter.com/Hbk63ALGtD
— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) March 2, 2024
Zac MacMath made six saves for RSL (1-1-1) for his 61st shutout.
LAFC (1-1-0) had a 16-10 edge in shots.