NYCFC Notches Draw In Nashville

 

Hannes Wolf looking to make a play. Provided by NYCFC.

New York City Football Club tied Nashville SC, 2-2, on the road Saturday, backed by a pair of goals from Hannes Wolf.

This was a solid bounce-back effort for NYCFC after a tough 3-0 loss on Wednesday to the Houston Dynamo at Yankee Stadium.

NYCFC is now 7-4-6, with 25 points, in ninth place in the MLS Eastern Conference. They remain just five points behind second-place Cincinnati (9-3-5, 30 points). Philadelphia leads the East with 34 points and a record of 10-4-3.

There was one interesting thing with this match that will be pretty apparent summing it up.

Nashville got on the board in the 27th minute when Sam Surridge buried one from the center of the box off a feed from Hany Mukhtar. There was another assist given to Matthew Corcoran.

Then, in the final moments of the first half, Surridge broke through again in the 41st minute, when he fired one in from the top of the box to the left corner of the net. Alex Muyl notched an assist on this one, and Corcoran earned his second assist of the night.

NYCFC would get on the board early in the second half when Hannes Wolf, on a feed from Keaton Parks, sent one to the right corner of the net from the top of the box. Maxi Moralez also earned an assist on the goal.

It would stay 2-1 until late in the match, but Parks found Wolf again at the top of the box in the 87th minute, and the midfielder buried another one to tie it.

This is Wolf's second brace of the season, with the first coming in Atlanta on March 29 in a 4-3 loss.

These were Parks' first assists of the season, and he now has six in MLS regular season play in his career with NYCFC. Moralez, with the assist on the opening goal. now has three goal contributions in his last four matches, as he also had a goal against the Red Bulls on May 17, an assist against Chicago on May 25. 

Wolf now has four goal contributions in the past three matches, as he also had a goal and an assist on May 25 against Chicago in addition to these two goals. 

"I think the biggest change, as I said, is the belief," Wolf said when asked about the mentality of the team to make this comeback. "I think we know in almost every game we are able to score, no matter where (we are). I think we had many games this season where we didn't concede goals, and even if we concede, we have big belief in our offensive play and our defense is strong. I think we are a group of young players who stick together, and this is the reason why we can come back from two-nil down."

NYCFC Head Coach Pascal Jansen said of Wolf's season, "Hannes is in a good place at the moment. He's very important for the team in-and-out of possession - today also getting us back into the game. So overall, I'm very pleased with his performance. Given what happened at halftime, going into the second half, we needed a better performance, and Hannes was one of the guys who stepped up."