Real Salt Lake, High school soccer: Rio Tinto back in picture

It appears that high school playoff soccer games will be held at Rio Tinto Stadium after all.

Even though the Utah High School Activities Association said just over a month ago it wouldn't use Rio Tinto Stadium as a playoff venue for boys and girls soccer games because it couldn't reach an agreement with Real Salt Lake over use of its pristine 20,008-seat stadium, UHSAA officials and RSL brass have since met to iron out their differences.

That meeting, which was reportedly very amicable, took place on April 2, and another meeting between the two sides is scheduled for early this week.

A source confirmed it's likely that the championship games for 4A and 5A boys soccer will be held at Rio Tinto Stadium next month, with championship games for all four classifications to be held there in future seasons. It's also likely that the four championship games for girls soccer will be held at Rio Tinto in the fall, as well.

Playing the 2A and 3A boys soccer championship games at Rio Tinto Stadium in a few weeks isn't entirely out of the picture — an RSL spokesmen said the club is "willing to look at all sorts of options" — but the UHSAA would have to shuffle its dates around because those games are scheduled for May 9th, the same day the Eagles will be playing a concert in the venue.

RSL's decision to book the Eagles for that day after the UHSAA failed to sign a contract that had been sitting on the table for months is one of the reasons why the UHSAA threatened to not use Rio Tinto Stadium as a venue for its playoff soccer games.

Originally, Rio Tinto Stadium was going to be used as the venue for all semifinal and final prep playoff soccer games for the boys in the spring and for the girls in the fall. But for now, both sides are looking to come to an agreement to host only the finals, though the semifinals could be held there at some point in the future.

SOCCER LEADERS: Sebastian Roa of Grand has topped the chart of the state's leading boys soccer scorers throughout most of the spring, and heading into the final week-and-a-half of the regular season, he holds a tiny one-goal lead over a pair of fellow 2A players.

Roa has scored 26 goals in 12 games to lead Kyle Farmer of Wasatch Academy and Ricardo Mendoza of Gunnison, who have 25 goals apiece.

Meanwhile, Ian Doney of Logan leads the state in shutouts with nine.

E-mail: drasmussen@desnews.com