Early onslaught propels NYCFC past Nashville

Santiago Rodriguez scored twice early in the first half as New York City FC sped out to a three-goal lead in the opening 21 minutes, survived some defensive struggles and recorded a 3-1 victory over visiting Nashville SC on Sunday in Harrison, N.J.

Playing at Red Bull Arena for its second straight home match due to Yankee Stadium being unavailable, NYCFC (14-11-8, 50 points) won a third consecutive contest for the first time since winning five in a row May 11-31. NYCFC have scored 11 goals in their past three contests after going 0-3-6 over the previous nine games.

Alonso Martinez also continued his recent surge for NYCFC by scoring for the third straight game, giving him a team-leading 16 goals on the season.

Hany Mukhtar scored for Nashville (8-16-9, 33 points) which put five of its 22 shots on goal. Nashville dropped to 2-11-1 in its past 14 matches after being eliminated from postseason contention on Saturday.

Matt Freese made four saves for NYCFC, including consecutive stops on Walker Zimmerman and Jack Maher during a set piece in the 79th minute before barely preventing Mukhtar from scoring again in the 82nd.

NYCFC bolted to their big lead before Nashville settled in and controlled the rest of the contest.

After winning the opening kickoff, NYCFC played the ball back for Freese and found Maxi Moralez in the center of the field. Rodriguez cut past Nashville's Shaq Moore, got an initial shot blocked by Zimmerman, then sent a right-footed shot from the center of the box into the bottom left corner.

Rodriguez scored again in the 18th when Nashville's Patrick Yazbek was unable to stop a cross from Hannes Wolf. Rodriguez finished it off by chipping in a left-footed shot from the center of the box.

Martinez made it 3-0 three minutes later when he tapped in a right-footed shot from the center of the box after Rodriguez's corner kick bounced through traffic in front of the net.

After Nashville's Jacob Shaffelburg had a goal disallowed because of an offsides call, Mukhtar scored from about 20 yards out in the 58th minute, sending a shot into the center of the net.

--Field Level Media