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MLS Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake Kicks off 2018 Campaign Saturday at FC Dallas

March 2, 2018 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


SANDY, Utah - Real Salt Lake begins its 14th Major League Soccer campaign with a 6:00 p.m. MT Saturday evening kickoff on the road at FC Dallas. Broadcast coverage begins at 5:00 p.m. MT on ESPN700 AM radio with Bill Riley & Jay Nolly, while KMYU television and digital streaming via KSL featuring David James & Brian Dunseth kick off at 5:30 p.m. MT.

For the ninth time in the last 10 years, RSL opens the regular season on the road (last year's 0-0 home draw on March 4, 2017, with eventual MLS Cup Champion Toronto FC the lone exception). RSL arrives in Dallas carrying an eight-game unbeaten streak in MLS regular-season openers (5-0-3, win-loss-draw). RSL Head Coach Mike Petke - now entering his first full year at the helm - brings the Claret-and-Cobalt into Dallas with just one all-time victory on the Metroplex turf (a 3-0 win in July, 2013).

How to Follow Real Salt Lake @ FC Dallas - Sat., March 3, 2018

Coverage Begins: 5:30 p.m. MT

Local TV: KMYU - David James & Brian Dunseth w/ Rebecca Cade

Digital Streaming: KSL TV app

English Radio: ESPN700 AM (5:00 p.m. MT) - Bill Riley & Jay Nolly w/ Tom Hackett & Spencer Warne (pre-/post-game)

Spanish Radio: 104.7 /107.1 FM - Angel Aguilar & Fernando Hortal

Online: The @RSLmatchday Twitter feed provides updates Game Notes for Saturday's RSL @ FC Dallas game Available Online

The link to the Adobe PDF version of the Game Guide in advance of Saturday's contest between Real Salt Lake and FC Dallas will be available later today. If you would like to receive it as an attachment, or are seeking more information on the match, please contact Matt Gaschk in the RSL Communications Department via email at mgaschk@RSL.com.

As previously announced, Real Salt Lake opens Rio Tinto Stadium against Western Conference expansion side Los Angeles FC ("LAFC") at 1:30 p.m. MT on Saturday, March 10. Visit www.RSL.com or call 844.Real.Tix now to access 2018 Season Tickets and Flex Vouchers. Individual seats for the March 10 opener, starting at $25 and up depending on location, in the heavily-anticipated kickoff go on sale this Monday, Jan. 8, along with 2018 RSL "mini-packs."

RSL's return home against LAFC next week launches a run of three out of its next four games at home, prior to a 6-week stretch from April 11 to May 26 that sees RSL play five of seven games away. At the world-class Utah venue affectionately known as "The RioT," RSL has enjoyed a prominent home-field advantage since building its permanent home in Sandy, boasting a dominant 105-26-44 mark in the world-class venue since opening in October, 2008.

RSL kicks off 2018 hoping to extend the momentum that saw Petke's side post an 8-3-4 mark after July 1 last year to go unbeaten in 12 of its final 15 games overall, ultimately finishing one point shy of the MLS Cup Playoffs. RSL enters the March 10 home opener against LAFC unbeaten in its last eight home games, carrying an active five-game home win streak at Rio Tinto Stadium.

FW Luis Silva scored in the final game last year to move into a four-way tie for the 2017 RSL "Golden Boot" with MF Albert Rusnák, FW Joao Plata and former FW Yura Movsisyan, each with seven goals. Rusnák led MLS with 12 primary assists last year, while his season total of 14 set a new standard as the second-highest single-season total in club history (surpassing the 12 set in 2016 by Plata and 2014 by Javier Morales) - just one helper shy of matching Morales' club-record 15 assists in 2008.

Real Salt Lake returns a 20-player core amongst the 30-man roster for its 2018 campaign, entering the club's first full year under Petke and staff. International playmaker Rusnák (Slovakia) and wingers Plata (Ecuador) and Jefferson Savarino (Venezuela) each sparked the club's late-season attack last year, while the quintet of USA U-20 CONCACAF Champions - DF Justen Glad, DF Danny Acosta, FW Brooks Lennon, MF Sebastian Saucedo and 2018 signing DF Aaron Herrera, all RSL Academy products - are joined by fellow homegrowns Jordan Allen, Jose Hernandez and Corey Baird.

Veterans returning for 2018 include DF Marcelo Silva, who joined the club in August; 11-year icon Tony Beltran, fifth-year MF Luke Mulholland, third-year MF Sunday Stephen, and experienced Major League Soccer players in L. Silva and DF David Horst. Joining that group are a trio of players who matriculated to the first team from the 2017 USL regular-season champion Real Monarchs: MF Nick Besler, GK Connor Sparrow and a Salt Lake City native, DF Taylor Peay.

Other new arrivals for 2018 include: Spanish FW Alfredo Ortuño; a pair of young American DFs returning from Europe in Adam Henley and Shawn Barry; 19-year old dual-national MF Pablo Ruiz, the Argentine youth international who could play for Chile's senior side; accomplished veteran MF Damir Kreilach; reserve GK Alex Horwath, another American returning stateside from Europe; and rookie FW Ricky Lopez-Espin (Creighton).

Season Tickets for Real Salt Lake's 2018 campaign at Rio Tinto Stadium are now on sale; please visit www.RSL.com/tickets/royalty or call 844.Real.Tix for more information. An overwhelming percentage of current Season Ticket Members have renewed prior to the early deadline, with several hundred STMs looking to upgrade locations and add seats for RSL's 14th year. The Rio Tinto Stadium box office is open Mon.-Fri., 10a-6p; more information can be found online at www.RSL.com/Tickets . Current or interested RSL Royalty Season Ticket Members can purchase extra tickets at preferred pricing or gain assistance via the Fan Relations Hotline at 801-727-2702.

Dates and times for upcoming international exhibitions and the club's Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup participation will be announced in the near future.

Real Salt Lake's 2018 Major League Soccer regular-season schedule follows:

Officially opening earlier this week, the Zions Bank Real Academy training campus in Herriman, Utah is located just 20 minutes southwest of Rio Tinto Stadium. The $78 million facility, which will see the first of five grass "TORO Fields" available in upcoming weeks - will serve as the daily training home for both of the club's men's professional teams - RSL (MLS) and Real Monarchs (USL) - while centralizing the club's U-19, U-17 and future U-15 development academy youth selections under the guidance of Academy Director Martin Vasquez.

The Herriman facility provides adjacencies for an on-site charter school in conjunction with the Jordan School District, which opened last August, focusing on STEM disciplines (Science/Technology/Engineering/Math) for nearly 300 boys and girls, kicking off a new era for both sports and education in Utah.

Last December in North Logan, Utah, RSL Owner Dell Loy Hansen christened the opening of the first of a half-dozen regional training centers across Utah and Arizona to be built in the next 2-3 years. Each $5 million RTC houses a classroom, as well as an indoor and outdoor field, dedicated to fulfilling a curriculum consistent with the club's vision and mission for youth soccer training and education, and the continued development of both recreational and competitive pre-Academy (ages 7-14) initiatives across Utah and Arizona.

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