Michael Boxall and Tani Oluwaseyi scored first-half goals and Minnesota United held for a 2-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night in Saint Paul, Minn.
Dayne St. Clair finished with one save for the Loons (5-2-2, 17 points) who won their second straight game and just their second home contest of the season. It also snapped a five-match winless streak against Sporting KC for Minnesota.
Alan Pulido scored for Sporting Kansas City (2-3-5, 11 points). Tim Melia made three saves.
Minnesota, coming in off an impressive 3-0 road win at Charlotte FC on Sunday, jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second minute when Boxall, alone by the far right post, tapped in a right-footed shot off a flick-header by Robin Lod on a corner kick. It was Boxall’s first goal of the season and seventh of his career.
It was Lod’s seventh assist, moving him into a tie for the MLS lead.
Oluwaseyi made it 2-0 in the 25th minute when he tapped in a Rosales crossing pass from the left edge of the six-yard box inside the back post for his fourth goal and third in the past four games.
Sporting KC cut it to 2-1 in the 38th minute when Daniel Salloi set up Pulido with a pass into middle of the box. Pulido then smashed a right-footed shot into traffic that caromed into the left corner of the net for his third goal.
Both teams clamped down defensively in the second half with scoring chances few and far between. Kansas City’s two best chances both came in the 79th minute.
Dany Rosero flicked a hard header from the middle of the box that St. Clair snatched. A few seconds later, Salloi broke free down the left wing but his left-footed shot from the edge of the box rolled past the far post.
–Field Level Media