The top two defensive teams in MLS squared off Saturday night, and the matchup lived up to its billing as the visiting Seattle Sounders and Nashville SC played to a scoreless draw.

The Sounders put together more chances but neither team could find the net in the third all-time meeting between the teams. Nashville won each of the first two by 1-0 scores.

Seattle (12-9-10, 46 points) extended its unbeaten streak to six games (2-0-4), while Nashville (12-9-9, 45 points) has a five-match undefeated streak (1-0-4).

Nashville has allowed a league-low 28 goals, while Seattle is the second stingiest team at 31.

Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei made one save while recording his 12th shutout of the season. Nashville’s Joe Willis had three saves while posting his ninth clean sheet.

Hany Mukhtar, who began the day tied for the league lead with 15 goals, was the only Nashville player to put a shot on target. The reigning league MVP was closely marked throughout the contest.

Teal Bunbury of Nashville had a chance in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time but lifted the right-footer and it was well off the mark.

The Sounders had a 13-5 edge in shots and placed three on target to Nashville’s one.

Seattle had a flurry of chances during a seven-plus-minute portion of the second half.

Heber sent a header off the crossbar in the 58th minute and the Sounders kept control of the ball. Heber got another chance and knocked the ball off the leg of Willis and into the net. But the play was reviewed and Heber was ruled to be offside and the goal was nullified.

In the 61st minute, Nicolas Lodeiro kicked a hard left-footed shot that sailed wide to the right. Four minutes later, Cristian Roldan’s right-footer went wide left.

The Sounders outshot Nashville 5-3 in the first half.

Nashville had a solid chance in the 28th minute but Sam Surridge’s right-footer went wide right of the net.

Five minutes later, Seattle had two strong opportunities. Alex Roldan’s right-footer was saved by Willis and Lodeiro sent a left-footed shot just wide left of the net.

–Field Level Media

Paul Marie scored his first goal of the season in the 82nd minute as the San Jose Earthquakes rallied for a 1-1 draw with Minnesota United on Saturday night in Saint Paul, Minn.

Marie booted in a left-footed shot from by the far-left post off a looping crossing pass from Cristian Espinoza. It was the fourth goal of his career and came on Espinoza’s 12th assist of the season.

Daniel finished with one save for San Jose (10-10-12, 42 points) which improved to 2-8-6 on the road this season.

Teemu Pukki scored for Minnesota United (9-11-11, 38 points) which saw its winless streak reach six games (0-3-3). Dayne St. Clair made one save for the Loons, who have won just three times in 16 home matches this season.

Minnesota United midfielder Emanuel Reynoso, back in the starting lineup after sitting out a 2-1 loss to Western Conference leader St. Louis City SC with a thigh injury, had two excellent scoring chances in the first 12 minutes for the Loons.

In the eighth minute, his left-footed shot on a break outside the left edge of the box sailed just wide of the far post. The second was a left-footed shot from the right side of the box that ended up in the side of the net.

San Jose didn’t attempt a shot until the 31st minute. The Earthquakes’ best scoring chance and the best either team had in the half came four minutes later when Jeremy Ebobisse found forward Matthew Hoppe alone on the left edge of the 6-yard box, but Hoppe’s right-footed chip shot went wide of the far post.

Pukki scored his sixth goal of the season and fifth in the last six games to give the Loons a 1-0 lead in the 56th minute. The score came after Franco Fragapane made a pass toward Bongokuhle Hlongwane in the middle of the box that Earthquakes defender Carlos Akapo knocked away to the right side of the 6-yard box. A wide-open Pukki pounced on it and fired a right-footed shot into the near corner of the net.

Pukki had an excellent chance to give the Loons a two-goal lead in the 73rd minute when he took a through pass from Kervin Arriaga in the middle of the box, but Daniel made a sprawling save on his point-blank, right-footed attempt.

–Field Level Media

Aaron Boupendza’s second-half goal clinched both the MLS Supporters’ Shield and FC Cincinnati’s 3-2 victory over host Toronto FC on Saturday.

The victory ensured Cincinnati the top position in the league standings and home-field advantage throughout the MLS Cup playoffs. The Supporters’ Shield is FC Cincinnati’s first trophy in the club’s five MLS seasons.

Despite the large gap between Cincinnati (19-4-8, 65 points) and last-place Toronto (4-17-10, 22 points) in the standings, FC Cincinnati gave back an early two-goal lead and needed Boupendza’s 72nd-minute strike to secure the win.

Luciano Acosta set up the play with a tremendous run into the box to get Boupendza the ball. The forward then made a great effort of his own in putting a left-footed touch on the ball for the bad-angle conversion.

Since joining FC Cincinnati during the July transfer window, Boupendza has five goals in eight regular-season matches.

Cincinnati’s Brandon Vazquez and Toronto’s Jonathan Osorio each scored twice during a wild 16-minute period in the first half. It was the first brace of the season for either player.

Cincinnati held 59.7 percent of the possession in the first half, and the constant pressure threatened to turn the match into a rout after Vazquez scored in the 28th and 35th minutes.

However, a misplay from goalkeeper Roman Celentano allowed Toronto FC onto the scoreboard in the 39th minute. Celentano mishandled a Federico Bernardeschi shot, and Osorio was in position to bury the loose ball.

Toronto FC’s equalizer came five minutes later, when Bernardeschi sent another shot toward the net from an awkward angle. Celentano got a hand on the shot, but Osorio was again in front to head the ball over the line.

FC Cincinnati had 25 shots and 13 shots on target, their season highs.

Toronto lost two starters to apparent injury. DeAndre Kerr left the match in the ninth minute due to a back injury, while Latif Blessing left in the 60th minute under concussion protocol.

–Field Level Media

Facundo Torres scored his team-leading 13th goal and could’ve had another on a sequence that led to an own-goal, and Orlando City romped to a 3-0 victory over visiting CF Montreal on Saturday night.

Torres began the night three goals behind a trio of players for the MLS goal-scoring lead and now has scored six times in his last eight games.

Dagur Thorhallssson also scored for Orlando (15-7-9, 54 points), which moved closer to securing the second seed in the Eastern Conference playoff bracket after beginning the night a point in front of Philadelphia and two in front of three other chasers.

Goalkeeper Pedro Gallese was rarely troubled, making two saves to keep his and Orlando’s ninth clean sheet of the season and help the Lions stretch their home unbeaten run to 10 matches.

Jonathan Sirois made five stops for Montreal (11-16-4, 37 points) but was also credited with an own goal as the visitors were significantly outplayed.

Manager Hernan Losada’s team was outshot 13-8 overall and 6-1 in efforts on targets while suffering a 12th away league defeat and 10th by multiple goals.

All three of Orlando’s goals were created down the flanks. On the first, Cesar Araujo played a sharp ball down the left for Rafael Santos, who dragged a low, left-footed cross back toward the penalty spot.

Torres met it in stride and hammered a low strike that bounded off the near post, then the arms and back of Sirois before crossing the line in an opener officially credited to the Montreal ‘keeper.

Thorhallsson doubled the lead five minutes after the break on an excellent team goal. Santos, Torres and Mauricio Pereyra all combined down the left before Santos got to the byline with an overlapping run and drove another low cross toward the near post.

This time Duncan McGuire got to it and sent a flick-on across the goalmouth, where Thorhallsson met it at the back post for a simple tap-in.

Torres got his deserved goal four minutes later after Orlando forced a turnover and quickly turned it into a transition opportunity, with Wilder Cartegena providing the final pass.

–Field Level Media

The Chicago Fire boosted their chances of securing a playoff spot on Saturday night, defeating the short-handed New York Red Bulls 1-0 in Harrison, N.J.

After a strong start from the Red Bulls (8-13-10, 34 points), the match flipped in the 62nd minute when New York defender Hassan Ndam slid into Chicago’s Jonathan Dean. Given his second yellow card, Ndam was sent off, giving the Fire life.

Chicago (9-12-10, 37 points) opened the scoring on the ensuing free kick in the 64th minute, as Xherdan Shaqiri curled an inswinging ball into the box, finding Georgios Koutsias, who powered his header past New York goalkeeper Carlos Coronel.

Until the red card, the Red Bulls had dominated play, testing Chicago goalkeeper Chris Brady and holding heavy possession of the ball. It looked like New York had a breakthrough in the 16th minute when John Tolkin smashed home a punched-out cross, only to have the goal called back after a sliding challenge from Frankie Amaya resulted in a foul.

The Red Bulls continued pressing throughout the first half, getting their next strong chance in the 32nd minute as Omir Fernandez sent a looping ball in from the top of the box, which Tolkin forcefully headed just wide of the far post from the left side.

While New York could not push ahead as much when short-handed, it did well to hold the Fire from additional scoring opportunities until late, when Shaqiri had a clear chance from 10 yards out in the 87th minute but missed a gaping net.

Kacper Przybylko also had a near chance in the 87th minute, only to meet the post.

Fifteen-year-old Julian Hall, the second-youngest homegrown signing in Red Bulls history, entered the match in the 81st minute to make his MLS debut after signing a first-team contract on Sept. 7.

Amaya hit the post in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time, unable to save any points for the home side.

With the win, Chicago vaulted itself to tenth place in the Eastern Conference, only outside the MLS Cup Playoffs on a tiebreaker with CF Montreal. Meanwhile, the Red Bulls’ playoff hopes were dealt a massive blow as New York dropped to 12th place.

–Field Level Media

Dave Romney responded to a match-tying goal by scoring his first goal as a member of the Revolution in the 85th minute as New England defeated Charlotte FC 2-1 on Saturday night in Foxborough, Mass.

Romney, who was appearing in his 30th match with New England, was waiting at the back post and directed a header past Charlotte goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina for the decisive tally.

Noel Buck scored earlier in the second half for the Revolution (14-6-10, 52 points), who played at home for the first time in nearly a month.

The outcome ended what had been a four-match winless stretch (0-1-3) for New England. Goalkeeper Earl Edwards Jr. made one save for the Revolution.

Karol Swiderski scored for Charlotte (7-11-12, 33 points), which went 0-2-3 in September. Kahlina made two saves.

Romney’s goal came off an assist from DeJuan Jones just after Swiderski scored in the 84th minute. The sequence began with a corner kick, and Romney placed the ball well out of the reach of a diving Kahlina.

Swiderski’s ninth goal of the season moved him within range of recording his second 10-goal campaign in as many years. It marked only the second goal in the last four road outings for Charlotte.

Buck’s goal, which was his third of the season, was assisted by Mark-Anthony Kaye in the 64th minute as the Revolution came out of intermission strong. Buck beat his defender on the left side and sent a shot across the goal crease for the tally.

Charlotte had the advantage in time of possession in the first half, but true to form this year, that didn’t translate to the scoring column. Plus, the only two first-half shots that were put on goal came from New England.

The Revolution swept both matches from Charlotte this season, winning by one goal each time.

–Field Level Media

A Cucho Hernandez penalty kick in the 72nd minute rallied the host Columbus Crew to a 1-1 tie with the Philadelphia Union on Saturday.

Nathan Harriel scored in the 50th minute and Andre Blake made eight saves for Philadelphia (14-8-9, 51 points).

The Crew (14-9-8, 50 points) extended their home unbeaten streak to 8-0-3.

The Union continued one streak vs. the Crew but couldn’t end another.

Philadelphia is 4-0-3 in the past seven matches against them but have not won in Columbus since 2016 (five losses, four ties) while scoring just twice during the span.

After the Crew dominated the first half, the Union struck early in the second with Harriel’s open header from 5 yards off the corner kick by Kai Wagner that gave Patrick Schulte no chance to make a save.

Philadelphia was boosted by the return of Julian Carranza (12 goals, 5 assists) from missing the match Wednesday while in concussion protocol.

He entered at the start of the second half as did Daniel Gazdag and Mikael Uhre. The trio have combined for 33 goals this season.

Uhre blistered a shot off the post in the 66th minute and five minutes later the Crew drew the penalty when Wagner was called for handball while in the wall trying to block a Hernandez’s free kick.

Hernandez scored his 14th goal and is now 5-for-5 on penalties.

Philadelphia, coming off a 1-1 tie against FC Dallas on Wednesday while the Crew were idle, wanted to avoid falling behind early against a Columbus team that leads MLS with 34 first-half goals.

It was mission accomplished thanks to Blake, the three-time MLS Goalkeeper of the Year. The Crew led in shots (12-5) and those on target (5-1) through 45 minutes.

His best stop was on a redirect from directly in front by Hernandez off a cross by Steven Moreira in the 34th minute. Blake came up big again four minutes later when Hernandez sent Yaw Yeboah into the box for a shot headed to the left corner.

–Field Level Media