Sam Surridge delivers 2nd brace to help Nashville blow past Minnesota

Sam Surridge recorded his second brace of the season in Nashville SC's 3-1 home victory over Minnesota United on Saturday.

Cristian Espinoza added a goal and an assist for Nashville SC, and Patrick Yazbek had two assists.

Surridge's four goals have come over just two games. After scoring twice in Nashville's season-opening 4-1 win over the New England Revolution, an illness kept Surridge out of last week's 0-0 draw with FC Dallas.

Nectarios Triantis scored a wonder goal for Minnesota United's (1-1-1, 4 points) only offense of the match in the 35th minute.

Nashville (2-0-1, 7 points) dominated the first half, holding 66% of the possession and outshooting Minnesota by a 12-4 margin (3-2 shots on target). The constant pressure started to pay off in the 26th minute, as Hany Mukhtar's back-heel pass set up Yazbek for a shot in the box that Surridge redirected for the opening goal.

In the 33rd minute, Mukhtar's initial shot was stopped by Drake Callender, but the Loons goalkeeper allowed a big rebound. A wide-open Espinoza converted the rebound to tally his first goal since signing a designated player contract with Nashville during the offseason.

Just when it seemed a rout was developing, Triantis revived Minnesota United's chances two minutes later on a spectacular individual effort. Taking the ball past midfield, Triantis ran up the middle of the field and buried a perfectly-placed strike into the top-left corner.

Two minutes after the halftime break, Surridge restored Nashville's two-goal lead, again set up by Yazbek's service. Yazbek's back pass in the box found Surridge streaking in for a close-range strike.

The rest of the second half was mostly uneventful, as Nashville was content to sit back and protect its lead. Minnesota outshot Nashville 10-4 in the second half but couldn't convert any of a few decent scoring chances, including a Kelvin Yeboah header in the 83rd minute that just missed the top-right corner.

--Field Level Media