Sam Surridge scores twice, Nashville opens season with New England rout

Sam Surridge scored a pair of first-half goals on Saturday night to help propel Nashville SC to a 4-1 victory over the visiting New England Revolution in each team's regular-season opener on Saturday

Surridge, who had his contract extended through the 2027-28 season earlier in the day, began the new season where he left off after leading Nashville with 24 goals in 2025. Veteran Hany Mukhtar added a goal and Warren Madrigal scored the final tally and tacked on two assists for Nashville, which outshot New England 14-4.

New England dropped the opening game of Marko Mitrovic's tenure after he was hired as Caleb Porter's replacement in the offseason. Leo Campana scored the lone Revolution goal in the loss.

After trailing by three goals at halftime, New England cut into its deficit as Carles Gil found Campana, whose left-footed shot from just inside the box pulled the visitors within two goals two minutes into the second half.

Just two minutes later, Surridge's shot was saved by goalkeeper Matt Turner, but Madrigal scored off a deflection to push the lead to 4-1.

From there, Mukhtar's attempt at a second goal was blocked by Brooklyn Raines at the 70-minute mark. In the final minutes before added time, New England had a rare shot, but Ilay Feingold's right-footed strike sailed over the goal.

After Surridge's header was saved by Turner just two minutes into the game, the Nashville star connected on the game's first goal in the fifth minute when Surridge took a ricochet in the box off the foot of Madrigal and found the back of the net.

Eleven minutes later, Surridge's attempt from close range was saved by Turner, but the rebound was headed into the net by the striker to give Nashville a 2-0 advantage.

Nashville tacked on another in the 39th minute when Madrigal assisted Mukhtar, who fired in a right-footed goal to extend the lead to 3-0.

--Field Level Media