Myrto Uzuni scored a goal and assisted on a tally by Jayden Nelson as host Austin FC defeated the Houston Dynamo 2-0 on Saturday in the latest edition of the Copa Tejas series between the Lone Star State rivals.

Austin (2-4-4, 10 points) bounced back from a 5-1 thrashing at San Jose on Wednesday with a dominating first half and then held on as the Dynamo never mounted more than a tepid rally in the second half.

The Verde snapped a seven-match MLS winless streak dating back to a 1-0 home victory over D.C. United on March 1 as goalkeeper Brad Stuver stopped five shots to record his third clean sheet of the year. Austin improved to 6-1-1 in eight all-time league matches against the Dynamo at home.

Houston (4-5-0, 12 points) had a two-game MLS winning streak snapped and was held without a goal for the third time this year.

The Verde were the aggressor through the match’s early minutes and earned a dividend for that strategy when Nelson found the net in the 13th minute.

Uzuni started the scoring play with a pass in the box to Facundo Torres, who drew the Houston defense toward the right side of the area. Torres then passed across the box to Nelson, who steadied the ball onto his right foot before whipping a curving shot past Houston goalkeeper Jonathan Bond off the inside of the right post and over the goal line to give Austin the lead.

That was the first goal Bond and the Dynamo defense had allowed in 193 minutes after recording back-to-back clean sheet wins in the team’s past two league matches.

Bond stopped a pair of low-percentage shots from Christian Ramirez in the 21st and 27th minutes before Houston tested Stuver with shots from Hector Herrera in the 30th minute and Mateusz Bogusz a minute later.

Uzuni had to feel unlucky when he clanged a shot off the left post in the 35th minute but was repaid when his free kick two minutes into first-half stoppage time deflected off Houston’s defensive wall and bounded past Bond into the bottom-left corner of the goal to double the Verde’s advantage.

Neither team produced a serious scoring threat after halftime.

–Field Level Media

Sam Surridge came off the bench to score a brace in the second half of Nashville SC’s 4-2 win over visiting Charlotte FC on Saturday.

Nashville (7-1-1, 22 points) is on a three-match winning streak in MLS play and sits in first place in the Eastern Conference.

Between the MLS regular season and their run to the CONCACAF Champions Cup semi-finals, Nashville SC has lost only one of 15 matches (10-1-4) in all competitions this season.

Morrison and Pep Biel scored for Charlotte FC (4-4-2, 14 points), who are 1-3-0 in their last three regular-season matches. Two of those losses were to Nashville SC, who also earned a 2-1 victory in Charlotte on April 11.

Surridge missed Nashville’s previous match due to a hamstring injury, and only entered Saturday’s action as a halftime substitute. The forward looked to be fully fit in scoring his eighth and ninth goals of the season.

Hany Mukhtar and Ahmed Qasem each scored within the opening 25 minutes of a dominant first half for Nashville SC. The home side held 61% of the possession, a 9-2 edge in total shots, and a 5-1 edge in shots on target in the opening 45 minutes.

Charlotte FC’s first shot on target salvaged an otherwise miserable first half for the visitors. In the 42nd minute, Ashley Westwood’s free kick found Morrison at the near post, who dove forward with a header to knock the ball home.

After replacing Warren Madrigal at halftime, it took Surridge only 15 minutes to strike. Mukhtar intentionally avoided an Andy Najar pass to let the ball get to Surridge, who buried the shot.

Biel’s team-leading fifth goal narrowed Charlotte’s deficit in the 68th minute. Nashville’s defenders left Biel with too much space outside the box, and the midfielder capitalized by firing a terrific shot under the bar.

Before Charlotte could gather more momentum, Surridge scored again in the 74th minute. A corner kick bounced back to Mukhtar in the box, and Mukhtar’s shot was redirected by Surridge into the net.

Charlotte FC defender Harry Toffolo left in the 35th minute with an apparent hamstring injury.

–Field Level Media

Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist Saturday as the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins stayed alive with a 4-2 victory over the host Philadelphia Flyers in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

Rickard Rakell also scored a goal and set up another for Pittsburgh, which had been outscored 11-4 while dropping the first three games of the series. Penguins coach Dan Muse opted to start Arturs Silovs in net instead of Stuart Skinner, and Silovs responded with 28 saves in a crisp performance.

Denver Barkey and Travis Konecny scored for Philadelphia, which will have another chance to win the best-of-seven series Monday when the teams reconvene for Game 5 in Pittsburgh. Dan Vladar, playing with a right arm injury, turned aside 17 shots for the Flyers.

Pittsburgh opened the scoring with 5:36 left in the first period on a creative setup by Erik Karlsson. Five seconds into a power play, Karlsson’s feed from behind set up Crosby’s smooth one-timer that skimmed off Vladar and into the net for a 1-0 advantage.

Crosby’s 72nd career postseason goal was the only tally of the first period, but the Penguins made it 2-0 just 1:03 into the second. Vladar turned it over behind the net to Rakell, who dove into the crease to swat the puck in before the Flyers’ netminder could recover.

Philadelphia got on the board with 4:20 left in the second period on Barkey’s first career playoff goal. The 20-year-old got position on Karlsson in the crease and Trevor Zegras put it right on his stick for a tap-in tally.

Travis Sanheim hit the post shortly thereafter, leaving Philadelphia facing a 2-1 deficit heading into the third.

The Penguins extended their lead to 3-1 on Kris Letang’s goal 4:27 into the final session. Crosby won a battle along the boards and kicked the puck to his longtime teammate, who skated in with plenty of room and blasted a slap shot past Vladar.

The Flyers got back within a goal on Konecny’s one-timer with 12:57 left, but Connor Dewar’s empty-netter with just under a minute remaining ended the hosts’ late comeback hopes.

Silovs’ best saves included a clutch stop on Zegras near the end of the first period and a pad save on Tyson Foerster’s partial breakaway with about six minutes left in the second.

–Field Level Media