Orlando City played to 1-1 draw against Nashville SC
LAKE MARY, Fla. - Orlando City SC (4-2-3, 15 points) played to a 1-1 draw against Nashville SC (2-4-2, 8 points) on Wednesday night at Nissan Stadium in its first visit to the 2020 expansion side.
Benji Michel scored the lone goal for the Lions’ in the match, ripping a shot off in the 17th minute for his first goal of the regular-season and his second across all competitions.
Mauricio Pereyra earned the assist on that finish, his third of the season, all of which have come against Nashville after a two-assist performance at Exploria Stadium a week ago.
“The first half was very good. The second half when we started in the first 10-15 minutes, I think they [Nashville] were more aggressive and got a couple chances in our third and they ended up scoring and that was the mistake that kept us from getting the three points today," said Head Coach Oscar Pareja, " but we’ll take it. This is a long journey, I’ve said it many times and the boys are proud and they will keep going and prepare for the next one.”
The Lions opened the scoring with Maurcio Pereyra playing a one-touch pass to Benji Michel, who bodied off his mark and stayed on his feet before ripping a ball from outside of the area into the left side netting for the finish.
The home side leveled things right after the halftime break after a ball from Hany Mukhtar found Randall Leal running in behind the City defense, who hit it past City goalkeeper Pedro Gallese for the equalizer.
The match marked the Lions’ first visit to Nashville in Club history. Orlando City returns home for the remaining two matches of its Phase 1 Continuation of Play schedule, first hosting Atlanta United on Saturday, Sept. 5 at Exploria Stadium before its first home match against Inter Miami CF a week later.