Tani Oluwaseyi scored his team-leading fifth goal of the season in the second minute, and Minnesota United extended its unbeaten run to six matches with a 2-1 victory over New York City FC on Sunday.
Wil Trapp added his first of the campaign before halftime and Joaquin Pereyra assisted both goals for Minnesota (4-1-2, 14 points), which has won two in a row and four times total during its unbeaten run.
Dayne St. Clair made three saves as the Loons held on despite being outshot 21-16 by NYCFC (2-3-2, 8 points), with the overwhelming majority of New York City’s attempts on goal coming in the second half.
Keaton Parks pulled a goal back in the 89th minute for NYCFC, which took until the 75th minute to register its first shot on target.
That goal helped the Cityzens avoid being shut out at home in the regular season for the first time since a 2-0 loss to Colorado last May.
But Alonso Martinez struck the crossbar with a late first-half penalty kick, a miss that loomed large as NYCFC was unable to overcome their slow start.
Oluwaseyi’s five goals have all come in his last three appearances for the Loons, and his latest took just more than a minute to give the visitors the lead on a bit of counterattacking play that has been Minnesota’s trademark this season.
Kelvin Yeboah found Pereyra on the left flank, and Pereyra delivered a wonderful early cross into Oluwaseyi’s stride.
The Canadian international met it with a solidly struck first-touch finish just inside the penalty area that gave NYCFC’s Matt Freese little chance.
Trapp made it 2-0 in the 29th minute. Pereyra stood over a free kick from the right for Minnesota, and instead of delivering an inswinging cross as most expected, dragged a low ball back toward the penalty arc.
Trapp struck a low shot that deflected off Parks, wrongfooting Freese on its way over the line.
Freese made two exceptional one-on-one stops on Yeboah, one in each half, to keep NYCFC in the match, and Parks gave the hosts a late lifeline when he put in a rebound of Martinez’s attempt.
–Field Level Media
