METAPAN, El Salvador -- Isidro Metapan staved off elimination from the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League on Thursday night by earning a 2-0 Group B victory over Herediano at the Estadio Jorge “Calero” Suarez.
David Rugamas and Jose Otoniel Salinas scored second-half goals for the Jaguares (1W-0D-2L, 3 points), who defeated Herediano (1W-1D-1L, 4 points) for the first time four tries in the SCCL. The Costa Rican champion had won all three previous matches by a combined score of 11-2.
Metapan goalkeeper and captain Henry Hernandez recorded the shutout, helping to snap the Salvadorans six-game losing streak in the competition.
Rugamas lifted the host into a 1-0 lead with his second goal of this SCCL in the 62nd minute. After several rapid passes, Odir Flores fed Rugamas, who beat goalkeeper Leonel Moreira to the near right post from six yards.
The Metapan striker twice nearly doubled the lead off counterattacks later in the half. Moreira barely knocked away Rugamas' close-range shot in the 84th minute and denied him from point-blank ramge three minutes later.
Three minutes into second-half stoppage time, Salinas finally found the range, firing a shot over the outstretched hands of Moreira and into the upper left corner.
The first half had only a handful of scoring opportunities.
Herediano's Jose Sanchez tried to test Hernandez 40 seconds into the match with a high effort that the Metapan captain had no trouble handling. Hernandez was called on again to deny Elias Aguilar in the 34th minute.
With the game five minutes old, Moreira parried away Christian Sanchez's shot.
Metapan faces another must-win match, when it hosts Tigres (1W-1D-0L, 4 points) in its fourth and final group match on September 24.
