This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Real Salt Lake coach Mike Petke was asked a loaded question after his young side fell to 1-8-1 on the road this season.

Where do you go from here?

"Home to play Orlando next Friday," he responded after Saturday's 2-1 loss to the San Jose Earthquakes. "I know it sounds funny and like a wise answer, but that's what the mentality has to be: Next game."

Petke's sentiment may be "next game," but RSL supporters might already be looking to "next season" is where RSL supporters might be looking as they digest another road stumble. Even if RSL cobbles together some more home wins and steals a few points on the road, 2017 has a primer season feel to it.

Ever the competitor, Petke will keep focused on the standings as he tinkers with the lineup and assesses how to move forward as the summer transfer window approaches.

"We have transfer window coming up, and maybe we'll make a couple of additions," Petke said. "Since I took over it's been a very big evaluation for me. It's been a team that has quality, but essentially it was built before I got here, so we have to take a deep look and make some adjustments in the transfer window, but also start really instilling the way I want to play — a little more stern, a little heavier."

RSL (5-11-2, 17 points) showed fight and promise in San Jose, but squandered a chance to move into a tie with the Quakes (6-6-5, 23 points) up near the red line. It was essentially a six-point game, and RSL didn't do much with a man advantage for 19 minutes.

Still, forward Brooks Lennoncan see progress with room to grow in RSL's youthful squad.

"I thought we fought till the end and had a good goal to pull one back," said Lennon, who scored the winner of the team's only road victory, 2-1 at Colorado in mid-April. "But yeah, we just need to keep working hard and get the results that we need on the road."

Midfielder Jose Hernandez, who came on as a substitute for Luis Silva in the 85th minute, scored his first MLS goal in stoppage time. The building blocks are gradually falling in place.

"Good for the young guys," Petke said. "I hope at some point in the future we'll have 11 homegrown players on the field. It's great to have them on the field, but they'll have to continue to earn their opportunities."

Injuries, curious calls, constant roster fluctuations and road struggles are all standard MLS fare, even for teams with established, finely-honed casts. Lennon was impressed with how the Earthquakes possessed the ball playing a man down, a confident trait, but also a reflection of RSL's inadequacies away from home.

Clearly, even during all the painful road defeats, youth is being served.

"I've gotten a lot of guys experience so far," Petke said. "The U-20 boys have been playing a lot. I've used Ricky (Velasco), Jose a number of times coming off the bench. So yeah, it doesn't matter how old you are. If you're quality enough and your work rate's good enough, and you show me on a weekly basis, you'll get a shot, and a lot of these guys have gotten shots."

Tactically speaking, Petke said RSL focused on two main points in preparation for the Earthquakes: defending San Jose's favored wide crosses and transitioning quickly and effectively and "exploding out there" on counterattacks. The Earthquakes had the answers, for the most part.

Now it's up to RSL to execute the game plan more precisely against Orlando City SC, which is coming off a dreadful 4-0 loss at the Chicago Fire.

A win Friday will surely have RSL's eyes locked back on the red line, even though next year could be the time Petke's creation will reveal itself.