Bongokuhle Hlongwane scored in the 14th minute and Dayne St. Clair made four saves as Minnesota United snapped their six-game winless streak with a 1-0 victory over the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night in Saint Paul, Minn.
It was the fourth shutout of the season for St. Clair and the 16th of his career as the Loons (4-5-3, 15 points) won for the first time in five home games this season (1-1-3). Minnesota United also extended their win streak over the Dynamo to six games, their longest winning run against an opponent in the team’s MLS history.
Steve Clark finished with four saves for Houston (4-5-2, 14 points). The Dynamo played without midfielder Hector Herrera and forward Amine Bassi, who both received red cards in a 1-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders on Saturday.
Minnesota took advantage of a bad back pass by Houston defender Franco Escobar to score the lone goal. Hlongwane got the ball off the turnover and then quickly split a pair of Dynamo defenders in the middle of the box with a right-footed toe-poke that sailed inside the far right post for his team-leading third goal of the season.
Houston had a chance to tie it in the 22nd minute when Ibrahim Aliyu took a pass from Artur while rushing down the left side of the box, but his left-footed, sharp-angle shot grazed off the near post.
Clark kept it a one-goal game with a trio of big saves just before halftime, including a highlight-reel double save on Franco Fragapane and then Hlongwane on point-blank shots in the middle of the box. Clark added a two-hand deflection of a snap header by Luis Amarilla from the right side of the 6-yard box off a Fragapane cross.
The Loons kept the pressure up after intermission and Clark came up with another big save with his right shoulder on a Fragapane left-footed shot in the middle of the box in the 53rd minute.
Houston forward Thorleifur Ulfarsson had a pair of scoring chances in the middle of the box midway through the second period, but Loons defender Kemar Lawrence made a sliding block on one and St. Clair snagged his straight-on try on the other.
–Field Level Media
