By CLIFF STARKEY

WASHINGTON—Sebastian Giovinco will do it all himself, if he needs to.

A brace by Sebastian Giovinco gave a depleted Toronto FC a 2-1 win over D.C. United Saturday night in the nation’s capital. After an exciting first half ended 1-1, both teams looked set to play for the draw until Giovinco’s blast from far outside the box gave Toronto FC the win, and gave D.C. United its first regular season loss at RFK in 17 games.

D.C. United struck early, when Steve Birnbaum beat his marker on a corner for an easy close-range tap in in the 6th minute. The goal is Birnbaum’s first career MLS goal.

After the goal, Giovinco became the focus for the rest of the half, as his teammates sought to get the playmaker the ball at every possible opportunity. Their game plan bore fruit in the 34th minute, when Giovinco was released down the left side and fired past Andrew Dykstra from a difficult angle to tie the score 1-1 going into halftime. Toronto could’ve had a lead going into the half, had it not been for Dykstra bailing his defense out on multiple occasions.

Both defenses came out much stronger in the second half, and the game became much tighter, with neither team able to create many clear opportunities until late in the match, when Giovinco scored on a rocket from 25 yards out for his second goal of the night. Giovinco was given space to shoot from a dummy by Altidore, who had just come into the match.

Toronto FC came into the game missing two of their three top players, as Michael Bradley continues his international duty and Jozy Altidore—recovering from a hamstring injury—started the game on the bench, before coming into the game in the 82nd minute.

Unlike Toronto FC, D.C. United’s lineup was bolstered by the return of Fabian Espindola, who made his intent very clear from the opening kickoff, trying to chip Chris Konopka immediately at the start of the game. Espindola would continue causing trouble for Tornto FC throughout the opening minutes, when his chip from the left corner of the box beat Konopka, but struck the crossbar.

Both teams entered the game riding two-game winning streaks, but the win means that Toronto is now one of the most in form teams in the league, although D.C. United still sit atop the Eastern Conference.

Next week, D.C. United travel south for a game against Orlando City on Sunday, while Toronto FC has the week off, before hosting NYCFC on June 20.