Lewis Morgan scored the tiebreaking goal in the 59th minute as the visiting New York Red Bulls rallied and hung on for a 2-1 victory over the Houston Dynamo on Saturday night.
Morgan scored his first goal since getting the only goal in New York’s postseason loss to Cincinnati on Oct. 15, 2022. He was limited to five matches last season and underwent hip surgery in September.
Morgan came off the bench for the second straight match and entered the game in the 34th minute as an injury replacement for Peter Stroud. Morgan nearly scored in the 53rd but saw his shot stopped by Houston goalkeeper Steve Clark.
After intercepting an errant clearing attempt by Houston’s Jose Artur de Lima, Morgan charged down the right side. He easily eluded Houston’s Jan Gregus and from well outside the box, Morgan lifted a booming left-footed shot that sailed over Clark and reached the back of the net.
It was Morgan’s 15th regular-season goal in 39 matches since joining New York (1-0-1, 4 points) before the 2022 season and his goal gave new coach Sandro Schwarz his first MLS win.
Elias Manoel scored in the 43rd as the Red Bulls earned their first win in Houston since 2013.
Ibrahim Aliyu scored in the seventh for the Dynamo (0-1-1, 1 point), who were playing their third game in the last week after earning a 1-0 win over St. Louis in a CONCACAF Champions Cup match on Tuesday.
New York goalie Carlos Cornel made four saves and preserved the lead by denying a header try by Griffin Dorsey in the 89th. He also survived Adalberto Carrasquilla and Aliyu missing the net during eight minutes of stoppage time.
Clark made three saves as New York attempted 12 shots while Houston had 14 shot attempts.
Two minutes after being denied by Coronel, Aliyu opened the scoring by capitalizing on a giveaway by Frankie Amaya. After getting by Daniel Edelman in the middle of the box, Aliyu scored by sending a right-footed shot by Coronel.
Manoel leveled the contest after a turnover by Houston’s Brooklyn Raines. Morgan intercepted the ball and Manoel finished it with a header from about six yards out along the left side after getting a long pass from Dante Vanzeir and eluding Houston’s Griffin Dorsey.
–Field Level Media