Cruise past Montreal in Nashville MLS game

Sam Surridge scored twice in the second half to complete his first career hat trick, Hani Mukhtar had three assists and defenseman Walker Zimmerman had a goal for each team as Nashville SC scored five goals in a 4-1 win over Montreal on Saturday night. – match winless streak.

Surridge gave Nashville (2-3-5) a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute with a right-footed shot from the left side of the box into the bottom right corner of the net with an assist from Drew Yearwood. It was Yearwood's third assist in his first season with the club after spending the previous four campaigns with the New York Red Bulls.

Zimmerman gave Nashville a two-goal lead in the 21st minute when he scored his first goal of the season on an assist from Mukhtar.

Surridge took a pass from Mukhtar and Yurwood two minutes into the second half and scored to extend Nashville's lead to 3-0.

Zimmerman's own goal in the 65th minute was the only score for Montreal (3-4-3).

Surridge scored a hat-trick in the 82nd minute. Mukhtar had his fifth assist of the season on Surridge's fifth goal. Surridge scored twice in six starts and played in nine games as a rookie last year.

Joe Willis made four saves for Nashville. Jonathan Sirois had three saves for Montreal.

Montreal entered the game undefeated in its last three games before falling to 0-3-2 all-time in Nashville.

Nashville travels to play FC Charlotte on Saturday. Montreal returns home to host Inter Miami on Saturday.

This Associated Press report was first published on May 4, 2024.