Substitutes Stephen Afrifa and Manu Garcia scored goals within three minutes of each other late in the game as visiting Sporting Kansas City rallied to stun Austin FC 2-1 on Saturday in a Western Conference match.

Sporting (3-8-2, 11 points) captured their second game in four days after snapping a seven-game winless streak on Wednesday with a 3-1 victory at home over the LA Galaxy. Kansas City earned points for the first time ever in a match in Austin against the Verde after losing on their first five trips to the capital of Texas.

Garcia, who entered in the 63rd minute, started the rally with a goal on a blistering shot from outside the box in the 79th minute. The goal came on the counterattack and after an assist by Assisted by Shapi Suleymanov.

That set the table for Afrifa. Austin failed to clear its zone after a missed shot by Calvin Harris and Afrifa pounced on the loose ball, uncorking a shot that went over the Verde defense, clanged off the crossbar and bounced down into the net for the deciding tally.

The Verde (3-6-5, 14 points) lost their second game in four days after forging a three-match unbeaten streak (2-0-1) that had included back-to-back shutout wins at home.

Seven players from Sporting were making their third start in an eight-day period. Still, Kansas City dominated the first 45 minutes of play, producing 12 shots, three of them on target and all saved by Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver.

Harris tester Stuver with a weak shot to the lower right corner in the 12th minute that the keeper dove to stop. Capita Capemba’s chance in the 32nd minute was also easily swallowed up by Stuver, keeping the match scoreless.

All that changed on the half’s final shot, which came one minute into stoppage time. The Verde’s Desler waited unchecked at the far post for Guilherme Biro’s high, cross-box pass and made quick work of opportunity, calmly directing the ball into the open net past Kansas City goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland to give Austin a 1-0 lead.

After Afrifa’s go-ahead goal the Verde did not even manage to produce a shot on goal over the final eight minutes and four minutes of added time.

–Field Level Media

Joao Peglow scored in the 90th minute as D.C. United salvaged a 1-1 draw with St. Louis City on Saturday in the second-ever meeting of the teams, the first in Washington.

Former D.C. player Chris Durkin scored in the 50th minute for depleted St. Louis (3-6-4, 13 points), which swapped out seven starters from its last match on Wednesday against Los Angeles FC.

In second-half stoppage time, Louis Munteanu scored what appeared to be the go-ahead goal for D.C. United, but Lucas Bartlett, who fed Munteanu with a header, was called for offside on the set-piece play after a video review.

Sean Johnson had two saves for D.C. United (4-5-5, 17 points), who have gone 2-1-4 in their last seven matches.

St. Louis was attempting to win its third straight MLS game in a span of eight days.

Roman Burki made four saves for St. Louis City, who were without starters Jaziel Orozco (hamstring) and top threat Marcel Hartel (illness), who has three goals and two assists.

St. Louis, however, was bolstered by the return of Durkin after he served a one-game suspension for sustaining a red card a week ago in a 1-0 win at the Colorado Rapids.

Durkin, who debuted 10 years ago at age 16 as a D.C. United homegrown, made 96 MLS appearances for D.C. between 2016-23 before joining St. Louis.

His goal came in the 50th minute and was set up with a wide transition run down the right side by Jeong Sang-bin, who passed to Durkin at the penalty arc.

Durkin ran onto the ball and blasted a right-footed shot into the left side of the net for his second goal of the season.

Peglow scored the equalizer off a corner-kick feed from Chris Stroud. Peglow’s right-footed rocket from beyond the box was placed just inside the left post for his first goal since July of last year.

Two minutes later, in stoppage time, St. Louis’ Conrad Wallem picked up his second yellow card and was ejected.

Burki’s best save came in the 79th minute when he dove to his right and slapped away a header from point-blank range by top D.C. scorer Tai Baribo.

The first half was full of free-flowing action but it led to few quality scoring opportunities. St. Louis City out-shot D.C. United 11-7 but put only one attempt on target compared to two for D.C.

–Field Level Media

England’s Lottie Woad fired a 5-under-par 65 on Saturday to secure a 3-shot lead over Amanda Doherty through three rounds of the Kroger Queen City Championship in Cincinnati.

Woad delivered four birdies on the back nine to move to 11-under 199 going into Sunday’s final round. The 22-year-old Woad and Ryann O’Toole tied for the best round of the day at Maketewah Country Club.

“Looking forward to being back in contention again,” said Woad, who hasn’t finished higher than a tie for seventh this season. “I think this year I’ve kind of been backdooring top 10s, top 15s. I haven’t really been challenging on Sunday, so looking forward to actually playing under the pressure a little bit.”

Woad began Saturday one shot behind Doherty. They both made the turn at 8 under for the tournament, but Woad posted birdies at Nos. 10, 11, 14 and 16 before notching a bogey at 17. Doherty managed just one birdie and one bogey on the back nine on a damp day meant for good scores.

“I didn’t hit it awesome,” Doherty said. “But I got it around all right.”

The 28-year-old Doherty has yet to finish better than tied for eighth in any LPGA event since joining the Tour in 2022, so she’s eager to be in the final pairing with Woad on Sunday.

“There is definitely excitement, definitely nerves,” Doherty said. “But that’s what comes with it. That’s why I’m out here, to play in the final group and feel that way.”

World No. 1 Nelly Korda will have to pull off a massive rally to win her third straight event. Korda shot 2 over on Saturday to drop to 2 under for the tournament, nine shots off the pace.

South Korea’s Haeran Ryu produced her second straight 66 to stay within four shots of the lead. New Zealand’s Lydia Ko (69) dropped five shots behind Woad, but holds sole possession of fourth place.

Five golfers are locked in at 5 under through 54 holes: Rose Zhang (66), Anne Chen (66), Lindy Duncan (67), Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul (69) and Japan’s Rio Takeda (69).

If Woad holds on to her lead in this $2 million tournament, then she’ll collect the second LPGA Tour title of her nascent career. She claimed the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open last July, less than two weeks after going pro.

–Field Level Media