Photo credit: Cary Edmondson / USA TODAY Sports

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~ Real Salt Lake continued their unbeaten streak, now having won two straight games as they shutout San Jose on Easter Sunday, 1-0.

35-year-old Javier Morales put in a free kick in the 44th minute. It was Morales’ fifth point in the last three games and his second goal.

Real Salt Lake’s goalie Nick Rimando had two saves as he faced 12 shots.

It was Real Salt Lake’s second straight shutout of San Jose, but just their second win in their last 13 road games.

The Earthquakes Shaun Francis had to be taken out in the 37th minute. JJ Koval came in for him.

San Jose had three yellow cards.

The most devastating was Innocent Emeghara’s, who got a yellow card when he and a Real Salt Lake player were going for the ball. Emeghara’s elbow ended up getting the other guy in the head. Morales then scored on the free kick after a rebound off Victor Bernardez, who was apart of the wall.

The Quakes had chances in stoppage time. In the 47th minute, Nyassi made a nifty pass to Adam Jahn, who backheeled the ball wide of net. Seconds before the whistle in the 49th minute, after a corner by Matias Perez Garcia, JJ Koval’s shot was blocked in front of goal.

Emeghara had three shots in the second half, followed by Jahn and Koval with two shots apiece.

After a teammate blocked the ball with the ball going forward to their own net, Bernardez cleared the ball off the goal line with a bicycle kick in the 71st minute. He got kneed in the head after with a defender running after him.

The second half had five minutes of stoppage time. San Jose’s Fatai Alashe had the last shot and narrowly missed.

Regarding second-half chances, Bernardez said, “I think what we need to take away from this is we can’t give away halves to the opponent, which is what we did in the first half and that was the difference in the game.”

Game notes: Sebastian Jaime did not play for Real Salt Lake and Marvell Wynne for the Quakes. Luke Mulholland and Jordan Allen, who both scored last game, started for Real Salt Lake. It was Mulholland’s second straight start and Allen’s first. San Jose next hosts the Vancouver Whitecaps April 11th at 7:30pm. The Whitecaps are currently first in the Western Conference so far and have only lost once, but have one more game before they face the Quakes.