Franco Fragapane's goal in 62nd minute gives Minnesota United 2-1 win over Austin FC

Minnesota United remained unbeaten for the ninth time in 10 games with Saturday night's resilient 2-1 victory over Austin FC at Allianz Field.

Loons left-side attacker Franco Fragapane's sleight-of-foot goal in the 62nd minute stood as the winner after the two teams traded first-half penalty kicks taken and made by their star player.

Until Saturday, a second-place Austin FC team chasing Supporters Shield leaders Los Angeles F.C. was 14-4-6 and hadn't lost a game in its last six road matches.

That all changed against the fourth-place Loons, who are 7-1-2 in their past 10 games. Their only loss came 4-3 at Colorado on Aug. 6.

The Loons now have scored two or more goals in six consecutive games and nine of their last 10 dating to a June 25 loss at Miami, a game they should have won but lost very late. They've also scored a goal in 12 consecutive games.

Coach Adrian Heath called himself "delighted" for his players.

"When I look at where we were after that Miami, I'm not sure too many people would have thought we would have won seven, drawn two and lost one with the quality of opposition we've played in that time," Heath said. "We're in a really good run. Now we've got the biggest game of the season next week (against Houston) because it will be."

Active all night until he left in the 71st minute, Fragapane turned opportunistic scoring his sixth goal in MLS play this season.

Teammate Emanuel Reynoso pressured Austin keeper Brad Stuver with the ball at his feet at the edge of the six-yard box. Stuver rolled the ball diagonally to unsuspecting center back Julio Cascante, who casually played the ball with two touches.

Fragapane closed fast on him from behind, tipping the ball ahead with his right foot before he sidestepped Cascante on the left side and then chipped the ball over Stuver.

"The most important thing if you play teams that like to play out of the back like they do, at some stage you have to make decisions," Heath said. "Fraga did. The easy thing for him would have been to stay with the fullback, but he picked it out and realize the ball was going back to the center back. It probably caught the defender by surprise.

"It was a great finish as well."

BOXSCORE: Loons 2, Austin 1

Fragapane's winner was his sixth goal this season. It also was his fourth in the last five games and his sixth in the last 10. He didn't score a goal in his first 18 games that he played this season.

"I'm very happy," he said in Spanish through a team interpreter. "Honestly, I needed these games, score these goals, to gain confidence. We're in a good moment and we have to keep working to achieve what we want."

Recent reports from Argentina have linked Fragapane with Boca Juniors, where he started his career with its reserve team in 2014.

"No, I wasn't really aware of that," Fragapane said. "I found out about the rumor through social media. But no, I'm really happy here. I'm doing things well to stay here in this country, in this league that I like so much."

The two teams traded penalty kick goals by their two stars in the first half.

Reynoso scored in the 25th minute after former Loons teammate Ethan Finlay banged into him, knocking Reynoso to the grass inside the 18-yard box.

Fragapane nearly made it 2-0 in the 34th minute, but his right-footed strike curled over the crossbar and the open right corner of the goal.

Austin star Sebastian Driussi scored his league-leading 18th goal in MLS play this season on a penalty kick of his own in the second minute of four first-half stoppage minutes.

The Loons played on without Kemar Lawrence, who didn't train all week because of a strained medial collateral ligament in his knee and was replaced by DJ Taylor in the starting 11 Heath kept his attacking front four intact and again paired Kervin Arriaga and Robin Lod in the central midfield, while captain Wil Trapp began the game as a substitution in his first game back from a hamstring injury.

That made central midfielder Joseph Rosales as well as newcomers Mender Garcia and Jonathan Gonzalez among the designated subs. Garcia made his Minnesota and MLS debut when he subbed into the game for Fragapane in the 70th minute.

"He'll be better for that," Heath said. "It has been a sort of whirlwind few days for Mender and the fact that he's seen where he plays now and the crowd has seen a little bit of him. He's been with his teammates for a bit. He'll be better for that. He hasn't played for, what was it, maybe seven, eight weeks? He'll be better for a few minutes under his belt."

Trapp subbed into the game for striker Luis Amarilla and Joseph Rosales subbed for Reynoso in the 79th minute as Heath maneuvered to protect the lead with his defensive-minded substitutions.

Finlay returned to Allianz Field for the first time since he signed with Austin FC as a free agent after last season. He had played for the Loons since their inaugural 2017 season.

"I didn't know where the visitors' locker room was," he said before the game.