SANDY, Utah (AP) — Luca Orellano scored late in the second half and Roman Celentano turned away seven shots as FC Cincinnati snapped Real Salt Lake’s five-match unbeaten run with a 1-0 victory on Saturday night, grabbing the lead in the Eastern Conference and Supporters’ Shield races with the win.
Orellano subbed in for Gerardo Valenzuela in the 63rd minute and used Tah Brian Anunga’s first career assist to score in the 87th. It was his second goal after scoring 10 times as a rookie last season.
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Celentano notched his eighth clean sheet of the campaign for Cincinnati (15-6-3), which moved one point in front of Nashville SC and the Philadelphia Union in both races.
Rafael Cabral finished with three saves for Real Salt Lake (8-11-4), which had four wins during its unbeaten run.
Evander da Silva Ferreira had a club-record five-match goal scoring streak end in his first season with Cincinnati. He has already tied the team record with five two-goal efforts in a single season and his 15 goals are three away from Luciano Acosta’s single-season club record.
Cincinnati improves to 15-4-5 against Western Conference opponents under manager Pat Noonan.
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It was the third all-time matchup and the second played in Utah. The road team has won all three.
Cincinnati travels to play Inter Miami on Saturday. Real Salt Lake will host the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/soccer