Well, I never! What a game to have been at. We traveled to Salt Lake for my brother’s wedding, which was a lovely occasion, and we were able to attend Saturday’s very nice 3-0 victory over New England Revolution.

Life has a funny way of mixing tragedy with joy, doesn’t it? This isn’t about Real Salt Lake (though I am grateful for a match and victory I could comfortably applaud), but life is so rarely straightforward. If you’ve read last match’s column, you’ll understand (and things aren’t improving, if you’re curious.) The weight of things was served an important distraction over the weekend, but waiting to enter the stadium brought everything into a sort of sharp focus. Spending time with friends, many of whom I hadn’t seen since before the birth of our younger child, brought that into focus, too.

I also read about the passing of Tom Biro today, former co-president of Seattle supporters group Emerald City Supporters. I don’t know that I ever met Tom, though I wouldn’t be surprised if I had during one of several trips to Seattle. His efforts with that group are absolutely to be applauded; the organization’s statement on that is all you need to read.

Life is a precious thing.

Let’s move on to the game. Bullet points from a vacation rental this time around.

• What a start. What a start! Aiden Hezarkhani had such a great start to his season, scoring in two of his first three matches, but he faded off as RSL rotated in more senior players in the attack. His goal in the second minute was so similar to his first goal for RSL, shot high from a tight angle. His second was also sent into the roof. I don’t think he had the biggest impact on the match otherwise, and in fact, he held the lowest player involvement percentage from Futi during the match. That said, he’s clearly dangerous, and he formed part of a good defensive setup throughout his appearance.

• To that end, Hezarkhani actually ended with a near-worst rating of ‘1’ from Futi — I’m not sure how he landed a 1 with a goal, but if he hadn’t scored, we’d be wondering what he was doing on the pitch. It felt less like he was part of a two-10s setup, which I think helped RSL significantly from a defensive posture.

• New England have only themselves to blame for this outcome. RSL was good, but their mistake-to-goal-conceded ratio approaches 1.0. That’s a recipe for disaster, as RSL has seen so, so many times in the last 14 games.

• Sergi Solans is … a mystery, right? That’s the best I can figure. The kid scores two goals, but he also has two big chances go completely begging. Twice he had the width of the goal to aim at, once in a one-on-one, and twice he put the ball right at the goalkeeper. The first goal he scored saw him take a poor touch, and it was just a New England mistouch that put the ball back into his path. Once the ball was back at his feet, he made no mistake with his first otuch and shot. The finish for his second goal — back the way it came, into the far corner where Matt Turner had no chance of reaching it — was special if he meant it, and incredibly lucky if he didn’t. I’m inclined to think he meant it, and his run to meet Guilavogui’s cross was perfect. What a strange, mysterious player.

• Morgan Guilavogui was involved all over the place. I don’t always love his defensive stance, but he was where he needed to be at nearly every turn. His passing was especially incisive last night.

• I think what we saw was a departure from the two-10s look that RSL has relied on this season, and it couldn’t have come soon enough. (It absolutely should have happened sooner.) There was considerably less cohesive midfield play, but the team also didn’t shove so many players into attacking and, more importantly, non-defending positions as readily. It worked well, at least from a goalscoring perspective.

• In fact, looking at the charts, goalscoring is maybe the only way the tactical outlay worked well. It’s a jumble, a mish-mash. You get no sense of formation from it. About the only thing you really get is that RSL didn’t play with a double-10 system. (There’s a reason you don’t see that setup at big clubs — it leaves you incredibly open to have three players given roughly free roles, given Solans also doesn’t track back most of the time. I get why, given he’s dangerous on the counter, though I would love if he scored more one-on-ones…)

• Do I think this gets RSL out of the rut? Not particularly. Was this an important win all the same? Absolutely. With how dire it’s been, having something to feel good about should ease some of the tensions we’re seeing.

• Do I think this was a win derived from coaching changes? Ah, maybe — like I said, the more defensive setup mattered. But I also think New England conceding in the second minute from a controllable (from their perspective) situation mattered more.

• I don't know if I love Sergi Solans coming off on a hat trick. I get it, but I think he could have had a third. That said, the injury crisis is bad, so I won't complain ... it's just something Pablo Mastroeni does a lot. Hat tricks are fun!

• In four of RSL's five longest winless streaks, the match that stops the slide has been a 3-0 victory. Isn't that strange?