Sporting Kansas City secured a 1-1 draw against Eastern Conference leaders D.C. United on Saturday at RFK Stadium.
Forwards Jairo Arrieta (42′) and Dom Dwyer (45′) traded goals three minutes apart in the lone regular season meeting between the two sides this season.
With the road result, Sporting Kansas City remains unbeaten (3-0-2) in 2015 versus teams from the East while D.C. United extended the club’s home unbeaten streak to 17 games across all competition.
Sporting Kansas City manufactured two scoring opportunities in the game’s 13th minute. Matt Besler’s long throw-in fell to Jacob Peterson, who forced a save from Bill Hamid despite finding himself at a tight angle near the endline. Moments later, Jalil Anibaba’s cross was settled by Dwyer inside the penalty area and the Englishman’s left-footed shot worked its way through two D.C. United defenders only to roll inches wide of the far post.
The visitors continued to attack and nearly broke through in the 19th minute. Roger Espinoza delivered a pinpoint pass to the backpost, where Peterson connected with a first-time volley that hammered off the crossbar from five yards out after a superb fingertip save by Hamid.
The reigning MLS Goalkeeper of the Year remained active in the 29th minute, diving to his right to deny Benny Feilhaber for his third save of the match.
D.C. United was held to only two shots in the opening 45 minutes but capitalized with their lone shot on goal in the 42nd minute. Perry Kitchen started the scoring sequence with a diagonal ball for Chris Pontius, who settled with his chest and immediately laid a pass back for Arrieta.
Arrieta made no mistake with a first-time finish for his second goal of the season, 19th of his MLS career.
Sporting Kansas City responded with the game-tying goal just three minutes later when Dom Dwyer was on the receiving end of an assist from Roger Espinoza.
Espinoza took on two D.C. United defenders on the dribble and split the double team with a pass that set up Dwyer for a left-footed strike past Hamid from eight yards out.
Dwyer, who set the team’s single-season record with 22 goals in 2014, moves into a tie for the team lead with three goals this season. In addition, the 24-year-old moves into a tie with Vitalis Takawira for eighth place on the club’s all-time scoring chart with his 31st career goal in all competition.
D.C. United, which settled for its third tie in its past four home matches, started the second half on the front foot. Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Tim Melia made his only save of the match in the 47th minute to claim an attempt from Arrieta, then was amid a goalmouth scramble four minutes later that was eventually cleared from danger.
Espinoza and Dwyer teamed up again in the 62nd minute to momentarily give Sporting Kansas City the lead when Dwyer buried his header off an Espinoza cross. However the goal was disallowed as assistant referee Kyle Longville raised his flag upon spotting Dwyer in an offside position.
Sporting Kansas City came close to leaving the nation’s capital with all three points, again utilizing a Besler throw-in to threaten in the 86th minute. The delivery took a goalward deflection off Pontius but Hamid was quick to react with a diving stop before recording his fourth and final save in the 93rd minute on an Espinoza shot from distance.
On the opposite end, second-half substitute Michael Farfan lined up a long range effort of his own that whistled narrowly wide in the game’s final minute.
Sporting Kansas City will now return home to play the Colorado Rapids at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 16, at Sporting Park. A limited number of tickets are available via Ticketmaster.com and the first 5,000 fans inside the stadium will receive cooling neck wraps courtesy of Providence Medical Center.