Diego Rubio scored in the first half as Austin FC snapped a five-match winless streak with a 1-0 victory over 10-man Minnesota United on Saturday night in Saint Paul, Minn.
Brad Stuver, who entered the contest leading MLS with 86 saves, finished with one save for his sixth clean sheet for Austin (7-7-6, 27 points), which picked up its first win since a 3-2 victory over Sporting Kansas City on May 18.
Clint Irwin, making his fourth consecutive start with No. 1 goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair away on international duty with Canada, made two saves for Minnesota United (8-6-5, 29 points), which suffered its third straight loss.
The slow-paced contest took a big twist in the 26th minute when referee Drew Fischer handed Loons midfielder Hassani Dotson his second yellow card in just a 40-second span, resulting in a red card and ejection for Dotson.
Austin took advantage of the man advantage five minutes later to take a 1-0 lead. Defender Jon Gallagher sent a cross into the center of the box that Irwin punched directly to Rubio at the top of the box. Rubio collected the ball and then blasted a right-footed shot into the right corner of the net for his fourth goal of the season.
Minnesota, which didn’t have a shot on goal in the first half, had its first good scoring chance in the 62nd minute when Franco Fragapane took a Sang Bin Jeong pass and drove down the left side of the box but his left-footed shot went into the side of the net.
The Loons finally got their first shot on goal in the 82nd minute when Joseph Rosales attempted a sharp-angled left-footed shot from the left side of the box that Stuver snatched with both hands.
Jeong had another good scoring chance in the fourth minute of stoppage when Robin Lod found him near the right edge of the six-yard box but Jeong’s right-footed try sailed high over the crossbar.
–Field Level Media
