Orlando City edges Montreal on Dike's 7th goal of season

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:12 am

Daryl Dike scored his seventh goal of the season and third in as many games, and visiting Orlando City SC kept pace in the race for third place in the Eastern Conference with a 1-0 win over the Montreal Impact on Sunday night at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J.

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Pedro Gallese made five saves to preserve Orlando's first shutout victory of the season, which moved Orlando (10-3-8, 38 points even with Columbus at 1.81 points per game and behind on the first tiebreak of wins. Gallese's best stop came in second-half stoppage time to deny Montreal's Bojan a long-range equalizer.

The Lions had three previous shutouts, all in scoreless draws. This win came while attackers Nani and Chris Mueller were rested and held off the 18-man matchday roster. They have 14 goals and 11 assists between them.

Clement Diop made four stops to keep Montreal (7-13-2, 23 points) in the match to that point, including second-half breakaway stops of Tesho Akindele and Junior Urso.

Despite its fifth loss in six matches and a second straight 1-0 defeat, Montreal remained above the playoff line in ninth place, with D.C. United and Miami both losing Sunday. Montreal will visit D.C. in both teams' final match of the season next Sunday.

Dike put Montreal ahead six minutes before halftime on a move that began when he found Mauricio Pereyra in the center of the park. Pereyra weathered a challenge from Montreal's Samuel Piette, then provided an exceptional throughball that sliced through three Montreal defenders and hit Dike in stride running into the penalty area.

With his first touch, Dike fired a right-footed finish low and hard past Diop.

Montreal had more of the possession in the second half, but Orlando created the better chances on the counter. Akindele hit the woodwork in the 72nd minute and then got free on a breakaway, only to be denied by Diop three minutes later.

In the 80th, Diop reacted brilliantly off his line to deny Ruan after a feed from Urso.

Montreal looked like it might take advantage in second-half stoppage time, but Gallese dove to his right to push Bojan's effort wide of the right post.