Simon Becher scored two goals and Marcel Hartel provided two assists in St. Louis City’s 3-0 victory over the visiting Houston Dynamo on Saturday night.
Becher scored once in each half and Jake Nerwinski added the gut punch two minutes into second-half stoppage time when Houston was playing with 10 men.
Roman Burki made five saves for St. Louis (8-12-13, 37 points). It was his first clean sheet since July 3.
St. Louis City won for the third time in four matches. They will not make the postseason, but they prevented playoff-bound Houston (14-10-9, 51 points) from moving above fifth place in the penultimate match of the regular season.
The Dynamo played the final 11 minutes plus stoppage time without defender Franco Escobar thanks to a red card.
Becher now has four goals in eight regular-season matches since joining St. Louis City on loan from Denmark’s AC Horsens in July.
In the 14th minute, Jannes Horn collected a wayward Houston pass near midfield and sent it deep to Cedric Teuchert down the right side. Teuchert one-timed a grounder to the center of the box, where Becher charged in and chipped the ball past goalkeeper Steve Clark.
After protecting the one-goal lead the rest of the first half, St. Louis doubled it just two minutes into the second. Hartel made an interception in the defensive end and sent it ahead to a streaking Becher, who was ruled onside and easily beat Clark for his second goal.
Burki had a stellar sequence in the second half. Adalberto “Coco” Carrasquilla fired a right-footed shot from outside the box in the 69th minute, but Burki made the save.
Just three minutes later, the Dynamo were still probing and Griffin Dorsey sent a cross to the goalmouth. Substitute Sebastian Ferreira got a solid head on the ball but Burki made the tough stop with his upper left leg.
Escobar — who received a yellow card in the 19th minute and narrowly avoided a second in the 29th when called for a foul — was sent to the showers in the 79th after his poor slide tackle from behind that tripped Rasmus Alm.
Hartel added his second assist when he ran to the goal line and curled a cross to a wide-open Nerwinski, whose shot deflected off a Houston defender and in.
–Field Level Media
