Hany Mukhtar, Sam Surridge and Joe Willis lead Nashville to 2-0 victory over Fire

CHICAGO (AP) — Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge scored second-half goals and Joe Willis posted his fifth clean sheet of the season as Nashville SC blanked the Chicago Fire 2-0 on Saturday night.

Neither team scored until Mukhtar took a pass from substitute defender Andy Najor and found the net in the 56th minute. It was Mukhtar's eighth goal of the campaign.

Surridge gave Nashville a two-goal lead in the 75th minute with his 12th netter of the season — matching his career high set last year. Surridge trails the Philadelphia Union's Tai Baribo by a goal in the race for the Golden Boot Award.

Najor and Mukhtar had assists. Najor has made 151 career appearances with all seven of his assists coming this season. Mukhtar's helper was his seventh this season — three off his career high set last year.

Willis finished with eight saves for Nashville (9-4-5) in his 72nd shutout over 278 career starts.

Jeffrey Gal totaled one save for the Fire (7-6-4) in his second career start.

Nashville improves to 3-3-2 on the road this season in climbing to third place in the Eastern Conference.

Chicago is 6-4-0 on the road this season and 1-2-4 at home.

Both clubs return to action on June 25 when the Fire host the Philadelphia Union and Nashville travels to play the New England Revolution.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/soccer