ST. LOUIS (AP) — Eduard Lowen scored the go-ahead goal on a penalty kick in the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time and St. Louis City became the fourth expansion team to win its first two matches with a 3-1 victory over Charlotte on Saturday night.
Playing its first home game, St. Louis joined the Chicago Fire (1998), the Seattle Sounders (2009) and Los Angeles FC (2018) as the only MLS teams to win their first two matches. Seattle is the only team to win its first three,
Eleven of the last 21 expansion teams won their home opener and St. Louis became the first since Miami in 2020.
St. Louis was coming off a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Austin, joining the 1996 Tampa Bay Mutiny as the only teams to rally for victories in inaugural matches.
Enzo Copetti gave Charlotte (0-2-0) the lead in the 25th minute. An own-goal by Charlotte’s Bill Tuiloma knotted the score in the 41st minute. João Klauss capped the scoring with an unassisted goal in the 71st.
St. Louis outshot Charlotte 11-6 with a 5-3 advantage in shots on goal. Charlotte had lost its previous three matches by shutouts dating to last season.
Roman Burki saved two shots for St. Louis. Pablo Sisniega had three saves for Charlotte.
Up next for Saint Louis is a matchup Saturday with the Portland Timbers on the road. Charlotte visits the LA Galaxy on Saturday.
