NYCFC Notches Historic Win Over Toronto At The Stadium

 

 The sky above Yankee Stadium during the game after rain moved through ahead of the match. Photo by Jason Schott.

New York City Football Club rolled to a 3-1 win over Toronto FC in front of a crowd of 19,395 at Yankee Stadium.

This was the 100th home victory in NYCFC's franchise history since it began competing in the MLS in 2015.

NYCFC moved into sixth place in the Eastern Conference with 31 points and a record of 9-4-7.

In the 20th minute, NYCFC was controlling the ball in the Toronto half of the field. Mitja Ilenic received a poor clearance attempt by Toronto, and he had the ball on the right side. He then lofted a pass with a high arc to Hannes Wolf, who was at the top left of the crease, and, immediately upon receiving it, he fired a shot past Toronto (and former NYCFC) goalkeeper Sean Johnson to give NYCFC a 1-0 lead.

This was Wolf's ninth goal of the season, giving him the NYCFC team lead. 

Hannes Wolf raced to the crowd behind the net after his goal opened the scoring. Photo by Jason Schott.

NYCFC would take that lead into halftime, and just four minutes into the second half, Ilenic would get a goal of his own, as he buried one from the center of the box in the 49th minute to make it 2-0. Agustin Ojeda earned the assist.

Ilenic now has two goals and two assists on the season, and this was his first multi-goal contribution performance for NYCFC.

Toronto got one back in the 70th minute when Theo Corbeanu took it deep into NYCFC territory, and as he sent it towards the net, it went in off of NYCFC goalkeeper Tomas Romero for an own goal. 

NYCFC was quick to respond, as Kevin O'Toole buried one from the center of the box off a feed from Wolf to make it 3-1 in the 74th minute.

This was O'Toole's first goal of the 2025 MLS regular season. It came 474 days after his first career goal, on March 16, 2024, also at Yankee Stadium and against Toronto.

"It feels great," O'Toole said of his goal. "I love getting up the field and being in those positions in-and-around the goal. I think this is only like my second or third shot the whole season, but good ratio I guess. I hope to get myself in those positions much more and maybe just try to help the team out."

Wolf's goal and assist in this one gives him nine goal contributions (six goals, three assists) in his last six matches.

NYCFC Head Coach Pascal Jansen said of Wolf's run, "Hannes is the ultimate team player. We were talking about him just now, and his work rate is incredible - especially with our situation playing with Birk (Risa) as a left full-back out of possession. So his job is double. He has to support that way as well and still, he's very productive. I didn't work with him last season, but he understands the league more than he did before - that's what I hear from my colleagues, and he has an impact. The outcome is there, and that's something we work on a lot during training: how you finish, how you get yourself in position, and it's working out for him at the moment. So I hope he keeps that momentum."

Maxi Moralez received a second assist on the goal, and he became the oldest NYCFC player to record an assist, at 38 years, four months, and six days old. He surpassed Frank Lampard by three days, as he was 38 years, four months, and three days old when he recorded his.

O'Toole said of what he saw on the pitch when he scored, "Hannes made a great defensive play to poke the ball from the right back there, an then just clever interplay between him and Maxi. I just saw the channel open on the inside, and Maxi played him a great ball in behind. Hannes has just a great sixth sense about fullbacks running behind a team, so I gave him a shout. He instinctively knew I was there and played a great cutback at a good pace, and I was able to capitalize. Happy for the moment and happy I could help the team, because it was kind of a critical time in the match where they had just gotten a goal back and the game was a bit in the balance."

Moralez had also made history when he became the oldest player to start and play for NYCFC, surpassing another legend that played for NYCFC, Andrea Pirlo, who was 38 years, four months, and four days old.

Romero earned the win, as he made two saves on the night. Toronto had eight shots overall, but just two on target.