St. Louis City wins inaugural match, beats Austin 3-2

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — João Klauss scored in the 86th minute and St. Louis City SC made its first match a memorable one with a 3-2 victory over Austin FC on Saturday night.

It was a stunning loss for Austin, which advanced to the Western Conference final before losing 3-0 to eventual champion LAFC in its second season of play last year. St. Louis became the first team to win its inaugural match since LAFC beat Seattle 1-0 in 2018.

Tim Parker scored St. Louis' first goal on a header in the 24th minute. Jared Stroud scored in the 78th minute to pull St. Louis even at 2-2.

Sebastián Driussi found the net in the 45th minute to get Austin on the scoreboard. Jon Gallagher gave Austin a 2-1 lead with a goal in the 72nd minute.

Roman Bürki didn't make a save for St. Louis City. Brad Stuver had six saves for Austin.

St. Louis outshot Austin 18-13 with a 9-2 edge in shots on goal.

Both teams next play Saturday. St. Louis hosts Charlotte FC and Austin hosts CF Montreal.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.