St Louis CITY2 rallied from a goal down to earn a hard-fought 2-1 win against Chicago Fire II on Saturday night at Ralph Korte Stadium. With the win, CITY2 joins Columbus Crew 2 and Tacoma Defiance as the only teams in MLS NEXT Pro with 12 victories this season.
Following up on a deflected shot, Joshua Penn poked the ball over the line to give Chicago Fire II the lead in the 35th minute.
CITY2 evened the score in the 56th through defender Josh Yaro, who latched onto a cross from Vitor Dias to net his first goal of the season.
Following the goal, CITY2 ramped up the pressure and got rewarded in 84th minute. Célio Pompeu found himself in space on the left side before sliding a pass to Josh Dolling who slotted home from close range to give CITY2 a 2-1 lead.
First team newcomers João Klauss, Selmir Pidro and Tomáš Ostrák all made their first appearance in the win over Chicago Fire II. Goalkeeper Ian McGrane made three saves in net in route to his fifth win in goal this season. McGrane remains unbeaten in net with a record of 5-0-1. With the goal, Dolling extended his goal tally to eight this season.