Sam Surridge converted a penalty in the 68th minute to break a scoreless tie, and Nashville SC defeated visiting CF Montreal 1-0 on Wednesday night.
Surridge’s goal, his team-high 10th of the season, sent Nashville (12-1-3, 39 points) to back-to-back wins since returning from the World Cup break and to a fifth straight victory overall. Nashville also extended its unbeaten streak to 10 matches (8-0-2).
Montreal (4-9-3, 15 points) is now winless in its last five regular-season matches (0-2-3).
Nashville, despite dictating play for much of the match, couldn’t do much to challenge Montreal’s goal.
But the breakthrough finally came with just over 20 minutes remaining. While racing to get to a loose ball in the box in the 67th minute, Surridge went to ground after taking contact from the left arm of Montreal defender Noah Streit.
Referee Marcos de Olivera immediately awarded a penalty, which Surridge struck past Montreal goalkeeper Sebastian Breza to put Nashville in the lead.
It turned out to be the only goal of the match, as Montreal dropped to 1-7-1 on the road while falling to 1-7-4 in 11 meetings against Nashville. Meanwhile, Nashville remained unbeaten at home this season (8-0-1).
Brian Schwake made a pair of saves en route to his seventh clean sheet of the season. Breza faced just one Nashville shot, Surridge’s penalty.
Nashville has outscored opponents 10-3 in its last five matches. Its 11 goals allowed this season are the lowest total in MLS.
Prince Owusu, Montreal’s leader in both goals and assists (nine goals, five assists), returned on Wednesday after missing his team’s 0-0 draw against Toronto FC on Thursday (yellow-card accumulation).
–Field Level Media
