Sam Surridge gets his second brace to help Nashville get past Minnesota.

Sam Surridge scored his second brace of the season in Nashville SC’s 3-1 home win over Minnesota United on Saturday.

Cristian Espinoza added a goal and an assist for Nashville SC and Patrick Yazbek had two assists.

Surridge’s four goals came in just two games. After scoring twice in Nashville’s season-opening 4-1 win over the New England Revolution, Surridge was ruled out of last week’s 0-0 draw with FC Dallas due to illness.

Nectarios Triantis scored a wonder goal in the 35th minute of the first half as Minnesota United’s (1-1-1, 4 points) only offense.

Nashville (2-0-1, 7 points) dominated the first half, taking 66% of possession and outscoring Minnesota by 12-4 (3-2 on target). The relentless pressure started to bear fruit in the 26th minute. Hany Mukhtar’s backheel pass into the box was deflected by Yazbek for Surridge to take the lead.

In the 33rd minute of the first half, Mukhtar’s first shot was blocked by Drake Callender, but the Loons goalkeeper allowed a big rebound. A wide-open Espinoza converted the rebound for his first goal since signing a designated player contract with Nashville during the offseason.

Just when it looked like the rout was unfolding, Triantis revived Minnesota United’s chance two minutes later with a superb individual effort. After catching the ball through midfield, Triantis ran down the center of the field and fired a perfect strike into the top left corner.

Two minutes after the halftime break, Surridge restored Nashville’s two-goal lead, which was reestablished by Yazbek’s serve. Surridge attempted a close-range attack through Yazbek’s backpass in the box.

The rest of the second half was mostly uneventful as Nashville was content to hang back and preserve the lead. Minnesota outscored Nashville 10-4 in the second half, but was unable to convert several decent scoring chances, including Kelvin Yeboah’s header that missed the top right corner in the 83rd minute.

–Field level media