Djordje Mihailovic scored his team-leading fifth goal of the season, Joaquin Torres scored his third goal and had two assists and CF Montreal pulled away for a 4-1 win over visiting Orlando City SC on Saturday afternoon.
Zachary Brault-Guillard added a goal and an assist off the bench for Montreal (5-3-2, 17 points), which extended its overall unbeaten run to seven matches in league play since losing a Concacaf Champions League quarterfinal series.
Joel Waterman scored the opening goal and also had an assist for the hosts, who have also won three in a row at home.
Joao Moutinho headed in Mauricio Pereyra’s corner kick for Orlando (5-4-2, 17 points). But the Lions were considerably outplayed for most of the match.
Montreal outshot Orlando 20-2 overall and 10-1 in efforts on target while scoring four goals for the second time this season. Orlando goalkeeper Pedro Gallese made six saves despite seeing his side also concede four times for the second time.
Gallese had already made a pair of quality stops before Waterman opened the scoring in the 21st minute.
Montreal’s Romell Quioto headed the corner toward the back post before it then took a deflection off Orlando’s Benji Michel and fell to Waterman, who finished past Gallese from close range.
The play was originally ruled offside, but after a video review, referee Guido Gonzalez Jr. overturned the decision. Replays showed Waterman was clearly onside when Quioto had touched the ball.
It was 2-0 seven minutes after halftime when Mihailovic hammered in Alistair Johnson’s cross from the right from close range on a counterattack that stemmed from an Orlando giveaway.
Moutinho gave Orlando some brief hope in the 72nd minute. But Torres’ excellent turnaround finish inside the box on a feed from Brault-Guillard put the game out of reach in the 81st, and Brault-Guillard completed the scoring three minutes later.
–Field Level Media
