RSL concedes late penalty for 2-1 loss in Nashville

NASHVILLE — Nashville SC came into Saturday's match against Real Salt Lake with a league-high four penalty kicks awarded through seven weeks of MLS play.

It took 89 minutes, but Nashville added to its total with a fifth penalty kick, conceded by RSL substitute Nelson Palacio. Sam Surridge got the shot past Rafael Cabral for a 2-1 win in stoppage time.

It was the third time RSL was on the wrong end of an officiating call in the match, with video reviews earlier in the match denying a possible red card on a Nashville defender and calling back an RSL goal due to offside.

"It makes our job a little bit more difficult," defender Alex Katranis said of the calls. "But we can't use these two decisions as an excuse, because we need to win the game, even if the decisions are not on our side."

The possible red card challenge came from Daniel Lovitz, the scorer of Nashville's first goal, on Dominik Marczuk, who scored the opening goal for RSL. What appeared to be a forearm to the head/neck area of Marczuk in the 25th minute was deemed unworthy of an ejection by referee Jair Marrufo.

Lovitz went on to score the game-tying goal five minutes later off one of just four corner kicks on the night for Nashville. RSL had a season-low two corner kicks in the match.

RSL rookie and substitute Jesus Barea appeared to score the go-ahead goal for the road team in the 71st minute on a cross from Marczuk, but the Polish international was called offside in the build-up on further review.

"When you're playing away from home, you know, there's a different energy in the stadiums, and those chances don't come frequently," head coach Pablo Mastroeni said. "But I think they did a pretty good job of finding dangerous moments."

Cabral had an otherwise stout night in goal if not for the penalty and first goal off the corner kick. The 34-year-old Brazilian had a season-high five saves and anchored the RSL defense, once again, behind solid performances from Justen Glad and Brayan Vera at center back.

The Claret and Cobalt head home with five losses in their opening eight matches of the season and three of their next four matches on the road.

The team has a prime get-right opportunity at home next week, taking on Toronto FC at America First Field on Saturday, April 19, at 7:30 p.m. MDT.

Toronto sits in the bottom three in the league-wide standings as one of three teams in MLS without a win in 2025.

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