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Real Salt Lake draws with Red Bulls

Oct 10, 2008 - 5:39 AM SALT LAKE CITY (Ticker) -- Real Salt Lake supplied pressure but failed to deliver late and give the home crowd a victory.

Jamison Olave scored the equalizer late in the first half as Real Salt Lake opened its brand new Rio Tinto Stadium with a 1-1 draw against the New York Red Bulls on Thursday.

Olave ran onto a corner kick from Javier Morales in the 42nd minute to even the score after Dave van den Bergh gave New York the advantage just 11 minutes earlier.

Nearly all 20,000 seats in the $110 million dollar complex were filled as the crowd saw Real Salt Lake (9-10-9) dominate the second half, but to no avail.

"This building means so many things to our club," Real coach Jason Kreis said. "It was a fantastic experience tonight. I think we were a little nervous in offensive possession.

"We have to bear down and focus on the fact that we have to play better soccer next week."

The Red Bulls (9-10-9) were outshot, 16-2, over the game's final 45 minutes, which included a hard 30-yard strike from Real midfielder Kyle Beckerman that just sailed over the crossbar in the 71st minute.

"We played one of our worst games tonight," Beckerman said. "The way the fans were, the atmosphere, it was unreal, they were great. They deserved nothing less than our best performance and a win."

New York defender Juan Pietravallo was sent off in the 83rd minute after challenging for a ball with a high boot, which drew a large amount of blood on the top of the head of Clint Mathis. The veteran midfielder received 12 staples for the cut.

However, Salt Lake could not take advantage with the extra man as New York goalkeeper Jon Conway made a pair of saves on rather weak chances from Kenny Deuchar and Yura Movsisyan in the waning minutes.

"I think against a very good attacking side, we did defend very well and we limited (them) to very few chances," New York coach Juan Carlos Osorio said.

Van den Bergh scored in the 31st minute, knocking home a rebound in the penalty area following a corner kick. It was the 32-year-old's career-high seventh tally of the campaign.

It was the first point in four matches for New York, which is unbeaten in eight career games against Salt Lake (2-0-6). The Red Bulls have not won on the road since May 10.