Real Salt Lake: RSL shined in season filled with adversity

SANDY — Years from now, when Jason Kreis' resume contains more pages about his accomplishments as a coach than a player, his 2011 season with Real Salt Lake is one he'll never forget for a variety of reasons.

Losses and adversity often reveal more about a team's character than wins and championships, and RSL's willingness to keep fighting will be Kreis' lasting image of the season.

"I think that, above all else, our team kept fighting and kept believing, and that means a lot to me personally," said Kreis.

With everything RSL went through this year, from the Champions League loss to the Javier Morales injury to the ridiculous number of games missed because of injuries, suspensions and national team call-ups, it would've been easy for the players to throw up their hands in disbelief.

Instead, the players dug deeper. Facing adversity that might've buried other teams, RSL sucked it up and finished with the third-best record in Major League Soccer and advanced to the Western Conference championship.

"When we take a step back and look at it, there's a lot to be proud of," said RSL president Bill Manning.

Even on what turned about to be the final day of the season, Real Salt Lake was still dealing with a mountain of adversity regarding injured center backs Nat Borchers and Jamison Olave. After bowing out of the playoffs to the Galaxy, Kreis said the Western Conference final was a microcosm of the entire season.

"We had our disappointments. We had some brilliance. We had some moments of averageness ... but one thing that never changed was our guys fought and fought and fought, even when they're down two goals they're still fighting," said Kreis. "There was no quit in our guys, I'm extremely proud of what our guys did in this game and even more proud of what they did in the season."

Make no mistake, though, Kreis wants to win championships, and Real Salt Lake was 0-for-2 in 2011. RSL's coach and general manager Garth Lagerwey head into the offseason with one goal in mind: improve the team to win a championship in 2012.

"We've had two years of playing pretty good with no titles to show for it and that's definitely disappointing," said Lagerwey.

As much as the Morales injury impacted Real Salt Lake during the five months he was out, so too did defensive and discipline issues.