NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Newcomer Sam Surridge scored two straight first-half goals and Nashville SC gave New England rookie goalkeeper Jacob Jackson a rude welcome to the league with a 3-2 victory over the Revolution on Saturday night.
Nashville (13-10-10) snapped a four-match winless streak, a club-record three-match scoreless streak and won for just the second time in its last 12 matches. Nashville allowed only three goals in its previous seven matches but managed to go just 1-1-5.
New England (14-9-10) is now winless in its last 13 road matches (0-7-6) in all competitions. Only one of the seven defeats was by multiple goals.
Jackson, 23, finished with a whopping seven saves in his first career match. Joe Willis saved five shots for Nashville.
Nashville jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Dax McCarty’s first goal of the season, unassisted in the 19th minute.
Surridge made it 2-0 with his first career goal in his fifth start and eighth appearance since coming over from Nottingham Forest of the English Premier League as the club’s designated player. Surridge, who Nashville paid nearly $6.5 million to acquire, scored again in the third minute of stoppage time to put Nashville up 3-0 at halftime.
Surridge used assists from Jacob Schaffelburg and defender Daniel Lovitz to score his first goal. Hany Mukhtar and defender Shaq Moore assisted on his second goal.
The Revolution got on the scoreboard four minutes into the second half when Tomás Chancalay took a pass from Gustavo Bou and found the net for a fourth time this season. Chancalay scored unassisted in the 71st minute to get the Revs within a goal.
Nashville, which entered play having been shut out in nine of its previous 14 regular-season matches, takes a 2-1-3 lead in the series. The Revs’ lone win came at home. Both teams have already clinched playoff berths with one match left.
Nashville will host the New York Red Bulls on Saturday to close out the regular season. New England returns home to host the Philadelphia Union on Saturday.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
