SANDY, UTAH (AP) -- Real Salt Lake appears to have rediscovered

its dominance at the right time.

Alvaro Saborio scored two goals to lift Salt Lake to a 3-0

victory over the Seattle Sounders in the first leg of their

Western Conference semifinals series Saturday night.

Salt Lake did not allow a single shot on goal through 90

minutes, and Ned Grabavoy tacked on a late goal to give Salt

Lake a three-goal advantage going into the second and final leg

of the series on Wednesday.

"We wanted to make a 90-plus effort tonight," Salt Lake

goalkeeper Nick Rimando said. "We know we get our offensive

chances when we play good defense."

Salt Lake controlled possession and pressed the attack

throughout much of the first half. The aggressive play resulted

in some early scoring chances.

Saborio finally took advantage in the 42nd minute. With

goalkeeper Kasey Keller out of position, Saborio took a pass

from Chris Wingert and tapped the ball across the line.

Saborio came up big again in the 53rd minute. He took a pass

from Javier Morales after a throw-in and flicked the ball around

Seattle defender Jeff Parke with his back heel and sent it into

the net.

"I'm so happy he put himself in the right spot," Wingert said.

"He's a guy that can step up like that and score a couple of

goals like that in big games."

Grabavoy capped off the scoring in the 89th minute when he

tracked down a poorly cleared ball, shook off a defender and

slotted the ball inside the right post.

It represented the most complete effort in all facets of the

game that Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis has seen from his team in

several months. Kreis felt particularly pleased with how well

the team shut down Seattle's potent offense.

"We're all going to walk away from here feeling really good

about the soccer that was played and the passes and the

effective passing in the box," Kreis said. "But I'm going to

walk away feeling very proud about what the guys put into it

defensively. We know inside our locker room that our attacking

abilities and our pretty soccer comes from working hard

defensively."

There were doubts that Salt Lake could regain the dominant form

it showed early in the season after failing win over the final

two months of the regular season. No one in the locker room felt

surprised at the outcome. Salt Lake had all of its best players

healthy and playing together for the first time in several

months.

With the roster back to normal, Salt Lake is ready to prove it

can be an MLS title contender once again.

"This is a veteran group," Grabavoy said. "I thought the light

would turn on."