Real Salt Lake notebook: 568 minutes later, opponent finally finds the net

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SANDY — It isn't as rare as Halley's Comet passing by the Earth, but teams scoring a goal against Real Salt Lake this season have been an uncommon occurrence.

Coming into their Rocky Mountain Cup match against the Colorado Rapids, RSL had shut out MLS opponents for 532 consecutive minutes dating back to Aug. 11 in a 1-1 draw at Philadelphia.

That streak finally came to an end Saturday night when Colorado's Connor Casey headed in a ball delivered by Kosuke Kimura in the 36th minute. Real's shutout streak ended at 568 minutes, eclipsing their previous season high by a full minute.

Yielding a goal to Casey prevented Salt Lake from obtaining its 14th shutout of the season. RSL is still four clean sheets away from matching the league record of 17 set by Kansas City in 2000.

MORALES SIDELINED: Javier Morales did not see action in his second straight MLS game and third consecutive game overall after sitting out Saturday night's contest with a right quadriceps strain.

Morales missed RSL's 1-0 victory over Chicago that extended the team's home unbeaten streak to an MLS-record 23 games while he served a suspension mandated by a red card he received against Seattle.

Morales was also one of four regular starters who did not travel to Central America on Wednesday to play in the 3-2 victory over Arabe Unido in Colon, Panama. Chris Wingert, Nat Borchers and Andy Williams also remained in Utah.

DEFENSIVE MENTALITY: With four games remaining, RSL is on pace to claim another spot in the MLS record books.

Salt Lake has yielded a league-best 16 goals through 26 matches. If Real allows just six goals in its final four MLS regular-season games, it will break the MLS record of 23 goals allowed, set by the Houston Dynamo in 2007.

Coincidentally, the Dynamo went on to claim the MLS Cup at the end of that same season — giving the club its second straight league championship after also finishing on top in 2006.

YELLOW FEVER: Colorado will be without its leading scorer, Conor Casey, in its next match against Philadelphia on Wednesday while he sits out a match for yellow card accumulation.

Casey reached the magic number to earn a one-game suspension after he earned a yellow card in the 10th minute Saturday night following a reckless tackle of RSL defender Tony Beltran.

Casey has tallied 11 goals and five assists for the Rapids this season to lead his team in both categories.

e-mail: jcoon@desnews.com