Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge scored second-half goals and Joe Willis posted his fifth clean sheet of the season as Nashville blanked the Chicago Fire 2-0 on Saturday night at Soldier Field.
It was the nightcap of an NWSL-MLS doubleheader on the lakefront, with the Chicago Stars earlier battling to a 2-2 draw with the Seattle Reign.
Nashville’s Mukhtar took a pass from substitute defender Andy Najor and found the net in the 56th minute to break a scoreless tie with his eighth goal of the season.
Surridge gave Nashville a two-goal lead in the 75th minute with his 12th of the season — matching his career high set last year. Surridge trails the Philadelphia Union’s Tai Baribo by a goal in the race for the Golden Boot Award.
Willis finished with eight saves for Nashville (9-4-5) in his 72nd shutout over 278 career starts. Nashville improved to 3-3-2 on the road this season in climbing to third place in the Eastern Conference.
Jeffrey Gal totaled one save in his second career start for the Fire (7-6-4), who are 1-2-4 at home this season.
In the first game, Brazilian star Ludmila scored twice in 2:16 to give the Stars (1-8-3) a 2-0 lead in the 13th minute. That score held until the 87th minute, when Lynn Biyendolo’s goal put the Reign (5-4-3) on the board followed by Jordyn Bugg’s equalizer two minutes later.