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Griffin Dorsey scored the decisive goal in a 4-3 shootout victory and the Houston Dynamo advanced to the Western Conference semifinals after a 1-1 draw with Real Salt Lake on Saturday in the rubber match of the first-round MLS Cup series.
Houston (15-11-9), the fourth seed in the West, will play No. 8 seed Sporting Kansas City in the conference semifinals. The second-seeded Seattle Sounders host defending champion and No. 3 seed Los Angeles FC in the other semifinal.
Houston took a 1-0 lead into halftime when Corey Baird took a pass from Héctor Herrera and scored in the 28th minute. It was the first career postseason goal for Baird, who spent his first three seasons in the league with Real Salt Lake.
Luna and Danny Musovski, who entered in the 90th, misfired for Real Salt Lake in the shootout.
Griffin Dorsey scored the game-winning penalty for Houston Dynamo over Real Salt Lake
RSL’s Diego Luna (second left) scored the equalizing goal to force a penalty shootout
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The happy Dynamo fans will now face Sporting Kansas City in the conference semifinals
Adalberto Carrasquilla, Thorleifur Úlfarsson and Amine Bassi scored the other shootout goals for the Dynamo.
Steve Clark finished with two saves in regulation play for the Dynamo. Zac MacMath saved four shots in regulation for RSL.
Houton improves to a league-best 10-1-5 in all competitions since the Leagues Cup break.
Real Salt Lake (14-13-8) finished the season with 11 road wins in all competitions. Only the Los Angeles Galaxy, with 13 in 1998, had more wins away from home in a calendar year.
