This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
By all accounts, the young players fared well.Second-year pro Luis Gil and rookie Sebastian Velasquez earned high praise from their teammates Saturday night after RSL came roaring back with three unanswered goals in a 12-minute span to stun the defending champion Los Angeles Galaxy and end their 18-game regular-season home unbeaten streak."They did great," midfielder Kyle Beckerman said.Gil started in place of eventual hero Javier Morales, while Velasquez started for injured Will Johnson — the first rookie to start a season-opener for RSL in six years. Beckerman said neither one "gets phased," and that Gil had proved his talent last season, while Morales acknowledged he was surprised Velasquez played so well in his first pro game."He's a good player," Morales said, "but I thought he maybe would play not so good in his first game" because of nerves.In fact, Velasquez said he had been more nervous during the team's preseason tournament, even though he had to promise his mother that he wouldn't hurt the Galaxy's Landon Donovan — her favorite player. Velasquez managed to trade jerseys with Donovan after the game, as a gift for his mom."I knew I had to step up," he said. "In rivalry games like this it's not only about who's more talented. It's about who wants it more, and I think we showed that we wanted it more."Coach Jason Kreis said he would have liked to see Velasquez be a bit more aggressive in attacking the Galaxy defense, but the second-round draft pick is likely to get at least another chance or two to shine, with Johnson expected to be out a couple of weeks after surgery for a sports hernia.