Rodríguez nets early brace to spark NYCFC to victory over Nashville

NEW YORK (AP) — Santiago Rodríguez scored 17 seconds into the match and had two goals by the 18th minute as New York City FC cruised to a 3-1 victory over Nashville SC on Sunday.

Rodríguez netted his 11th goal of the season for New York City (14-11-8) when he missed with his left foot, corralled the rebound and drilled a right-footed shot to the bottom left corner of the net. His 12th goal came with an assist from rookie Hannes Wolf for a two-goal lead. Wolf's assist was his eighth.

Alonso Martínez scored unassisted three minutes later for a 3-0 advantage and NYCFC carried it into halftime. It was the 16th goal for Martínez in his first full season in the league.

Nashville (8-16-9) got on the scoreboard in the 58th minute when Hany Mukhtar took a pass from Jacob Shaffelburg and scored his eighth goal of the campaign. Shaffelburg's helper was his fourth.

Matt Freese finished with four saves in goal for NYCFC.

Joe Willis saved one shot for Nashville.

NYCFC moves up to fifth place in the Eastern Conference with the victory.

Nashville, which leads the series 3-2-1, beat NYCFC 1-0 at home on June 22.

NYCFC is idle until Decision Day on Oct. 19 when it travels to play CF Montreal.

Nashville will close out the regular season on the road against the Chicago Fire on Oct. 19.

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AP MLS: https://apnews.com/hub/major-league-soccer