Montreal remain unbeaten with 2-1 victory over Toronto FC
Posted March 16, 2013 6:18 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Patrice Bernier and Marco Di Vaio scored first-half goals and the Montreal Impact held on for a 2-1 victory over Toronto FC on Saturday.
Montreal remained perfect through three games before a crowd of 37,896 at Olympic Stadium. The Impact, who opened with wins in Seattle and Portland to match their total road victories last year, became the first Major League Soccer team to win three games this season.
Robert Earnshaw scored on a penalty kick in the 68th minute to pull Toronto within one.
The Reds fell to 1-2, one week after Earnshaw scored twice in a 2-1 win over Sporting Kansas City at Rogers Centre.
Bernier gave the Impact a 1-0 lead 34 minutes in after Toronto’s Ashtone Morgan fouled Andres Romero in the penalty area.
Bernier, Montreal’s MVP last season, hesitated on his penalty kick and sent Reds goalkeeper Joe Bendik diving to his right before putting the ball into an open right side.
Di Vaio made it 2-0 just before the half. Impact captain Davy Arnaud sent a ball forward for Di Vaio, who scooted around Bendik to score his first goal of the season in added time.
Much like Bernier, Earnshaw used a stutter step to get Troy Perkins in motion before shooting past the Montreal keeper’s diving attempt. Earnshaw did a forward flip in celebration as he ran towards the Reds’ cheering section in the end corner of the stadium.
Montreal’s Felipe Martins had an opportunity to make it a two-goal lead in the 89th minute but he sailed his shot from the left side over the crossbar.
Bendik made a couple of big stops on Di Vaio earlier in the first, including one four minutes in and another in the 43rd minute.
Montreal defender Alessandro Nesta left 11 minutes in with an apparent leg injury. He was replaced by Dennis Iapichino, who took over the left side of the back end as Hassoun Camara moved into the middle with Matteo Ferrari.
