Chattanooga Football Club fell to its first defeat of 2025 after a 3-0 loss to Columbus Crew 2 on Sunday afternoon.
Columbus opened the scoring just before half-time when Tristan Brown scored his second goal of the season, finishing from a swift counter attack after Chattanooga FC forward Keegan Ancelin had a shot blocked on the other side.
Chase Adams doubled the score in the 68th minute and substitute Cristian Ortiz put the result beyond doubt in the 86th.
CFC had two shots hit the woodwork throughout the match. Tate Robertson struck the post from a free-kick in the 27th minute and substitute Peter Plougmand hit the post in the 75th.
Head Coach Chris Nugent's side suffered its first defeat of the year. However, the team still finds itself leading the Eastern Conference and overall standings.
"It's always disappointing when you lose," said Nugent. "It was a tough game. We started very slowly and it made it hard for us to get into the match. I felt the second half was much better and we showed our identity more and created a lot of good chances. We were more dominant in the second half, but we didn't quite have the composure we've shown in previous matches.
"One positive we can take from it is from the reaction in the second half. The guys responded well to a change of shape and positions. We know every game in this league will be tough, whether we're home or away. There are good learnings we will be able to take from this."
CFC will now look forward to returning home for a league match against fellow unbeaten side Philadelphia Union II on Saturday, May 3rd, with kick-off set for 7:00 p.m. EST at Finley Stadium.
Noteworthy
- Eldin Jakupović, Farid Sar-Sar, Milo Garvanian, Tate Robertson and Callum Watson all started in their seventh consecutive league match of the season and ninth competitive match of 2025 (other two in U.S. Open Cup)
- Colin Thomas made his CFC debut in the 87th minute