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Nashville SC Offense Goes Cold in Loss at Saint Louis FC

September 9, 2019 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Nashville SC News Release


FENTON, Mo. - Nashville SC has boasted one of the best offenses in the USL Championship this season. However, the club's roaring offense went quiet on Saturday night as the Boys in Gold dropped a tough contest 1-0 at Saint Louis FC.

For a club that had scored at least two goals in all but two matches since July 17, the result was bitterly disappointing.

"I think we didn't create the opportunities that we had in past games," said defender Taylor Washington. "It's just unfortunate. We were in a good run of form, and this loss today - we'll take it and make sure that we improve. We're going to make sure that we come back from this and we use this as a propelling point to finish the season better."

Head Coach Gary Smith was cautious in using his substitutions as he felt the Boys in Gold had enough in the tank to earn the go-ahead goal in a 0-0 deadlock. However, just as he was about to make a change to try and jumpstart the offense, Saint Louis made a run of its own and found the back of the net in the 78' minute.

"I thought there were some spells in the first half where we looked like we were going to get a grip on it," said head coach Gary Smith. "Unfortunately, the game just sort of ebbed and flowed from them to us in terms of who was going to get the better. I did think we started the second half much brighter and more positive, and there were some signs that we might be able to find our way to a breakthrough. It didn't happen. The choices that have got to be made at that point, 20 minutes out, 15 minutes out, just before they scored was: are we going to change dramatically to what we are or were there just one or two areas to tinker with that might have helped us? But just as I was going to make the change, they scored. It made life all the more difficult, but the story of the night was that we certainly weren't enough of a threat on goal. It wasn't for a lack of application or endeavor, but on this surface against a difficult side to play against, we just weren't creative enough."

Droves of Nashville SC fans made the drive up to St. Louis to catch the match at World Wide Technology Soccer Park. Smith was thrilled with the fan support on the road and was disappointed not to send them home happy.

"I was amazed at the amount of [our fans] that were over in that far left corner as we were looking at the field," Smith said. "It's great to see that amount of people that are making the journey. Unfortunately, we were unable to reward them for that. Our away form has been very good, but tonight it deserted us again at an important time."

Nashville SC will take this coming weekend off before facing regional rival Birmingham Legion FC next Tuesday night at First Tennessee Park. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT. Tickets are available here.

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