The FC Dallas Reserves left Sandy’s America First Field wet and cold, but with three points in tow courtesy of a comprehensive 3-0 victory over their Real Salt Lake Reserves counterparts on Tuesday. With the win, the FC Dallas Reserves move to 3-1-0, their nine points good for a share of the Central/Mountain Division lead alongside the Houston Dynamo, while the RSL Reserves’ third straight defeat dropped the Utah side to a disappointing 0-4-1 halfway through their 2012 MLS Reserve League calendar.

Rainy conditions in the first half made for some slippery footing, hearty challenges and tense moments, culminating with a 34^th minute altercation that followed Dallas forward Ruben Luna’s sliding challenge into RSL goalkeeper Kyle Reynish, which resulted in a yellow card shown to the Dallas attacker. Luna would help move the scoreboard shortly thereafter in the 41^st minute, his lobbed ball across the six finding midfielder Jonathan Top, who slammed a side-volley past Reynish and inside the bottom left corner to put the visitors up 1-0.

The FC Dallas Reserves doubled the advantage shortly after halftime off a penalty kick opportunity, created in the 49^th minute when RSL defender Chris Schuler clipped Luna inside the box. Midfielder Bruno Guarda would earn a caution for dissent shortly after the foul, but he was composed enough to bury the spot kick low and inside the right post seconds later to put Dallas up 2-0. Five minutes later the visitors tacked on a third, as defender Mike Ambrose swung a ball in from the left wing to on-rushing striker Scott Sealy, who placed his re-directed header off the right post and in.

Tensions once again rose to the forefront in the 80^th minute, when RSL Reserves forward Paulo Junior was shown a red card for a reckless challenge in the center circle against Top, followed shortly thereafter by Guarda’s ejection for making contact with the referee in the ensuing scrum. The Claret-and-Cobalt’s best chances of the day came in the 88^th minute from midfielder Jordan Allen, but the RSL-Arizona Academy product saw both of his shots from within 10 yards blocked by a scrambling Richard Sanchez, who entered the match at goalkeeper at the halftime break and combined with starter Chris Seitz for the shutout.

The FC Dallas Reserves will resume play with a road challenge against Sporting Kansas City Reserves (1-1-1) at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park on Tuesday, May 1 (7:30 p.m. CT).

MLS Reserve League Box Score

Real Salt Lake Reserves 0 : 3 FC Dallas Reserves

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

America First Field – Sandy, UT

Scoring Summary:
FCD – Jonathan Top (Ruben Luna) 41
FCD – Bruno Guarda (penalty kick) 49
FCD – Scott Sealy (Mike Ambrose) 54

Disciplinary Summary:
FCD – Ruben Luna (caution, Reckless Tackle) 34
FCD – Bruno Guarda (caution, Dissent) 49
FCD – Bruno Guarda (ejection, Unsporting Behavior) 80
RSL – Paulo Jr. (ejection, Reckless Foul) 80

Real Salt Lake Reserves (4-4-2): Kyle Reynish (c) (Lalo Fernandez 67); Terukazu Tanaka, Leone Cruz, Chris Schuler, Chris Estridge (Carlos Salcedo** 75); Yordany Alvarez, Enzo Martinez (Jordan Allen** 60), Jonny Steele, Sebastian Velasquez; Paulo Junior, Emiliano Bonfigli

Substitutes Not Used: Taylor Bowlin*, Luis Gil

FC Dallas Reserves (4-4-2): Chris Seitz (c) (Richard Sanchez 45); Alex Lee, Matt Hedges (Aaron Guillen** 88), Mark Barone*, Moises Hernandez; Jonathan Top (Flavio Guzman** 81), Bruno Guarda, Victor Ulloa, Michael Ambrose; Scott Sealy (David Robledo** 60), Ruben Luna

Substitutes Not Used: Bryan Leyva
*Guest player
**RSL-Arizona/FC Dallas Academy player

Referee: Alex Krelo
Referee Assistants: Hamed Sadeghi, Alan Jimenez
4^th Official: Brad Jensen