Nashville SC beats New England Revolution 3-2 behind Sam Surridge's hat trick
The roster for the 2025 MLS All-Star Game was unveiled on June 25, one hour before Nashville SC took on the New England Revolution. Sam Surridge, who entered the game second in the league in scoring, was not named to the team.
If he was upset about it, consider what he did at Gillette Stadium his response.
Surridge scored three goals — his 13th, 14th and 15th of the season — as Nashville (10-4-5, 35 points) beat the Revolution 3-2. The win marked 12 straight matches without a loss across all competitions for NSC, which is 6-0-4 in its past 10 league games, tying a club record.
"We don't really get into (Surridge's snub)," Nashville SC coach B.J. Callaghan said. "I'm just happy he keeps scoring."
New England (6-6-5, 23 points) came in with the second-fewest goals conceded in MLS with 15, yet Nashville had no problem scoring even in a stadium where it had previously never won. Jonathan Perez, Hany Mukhtar and Daniel Lovitz had assists to help Surridge record his second hat trick of 2025.
"There were moments and periods in the game where we weren't our best," Callaghan said. "But we had to push through."
While Surridge was not named an All-Star, Nashville will be represented with defender Andy Najar, who was one of 26 players named to the team that will face the Liga MX All-Stars on July 23 in Austin.
Nashville's next game will be June 28 against D.C. United at Audi Field in Washington, D.C.
Nashville overcomes miscues behind Sam Surridge hat trick
New England opened the scoring in the 15th minute as Nashville's defense was caught off guard by Carles Gil's long free kick. Tomas Chancalay received Gil's pass and fired a shot past Joe Willis to make it 1-0.
Nashville still kept up the pressure as Mukhtar and Perez hit the post with shots in the first half. Finally, NSC broke through in first-half stoppage time as Surridge out-jumped Brayan Ceballos to head Perez's lofted pass home.
Ceballos scored early in the second half on another free kick, but Surridge answered less than two minutes later when he got his foot on Lovitz's flicked-on header off a Mukhtar corner. In the 58th minute, Mukhtar was fouled in the penalty box by Mamadou Fofana, and Surridge sealed his hat trick by scoring on the ensuing penalty.
"(Sam) has never put his head down or hung his head," Lovitz said. "He's always really focused on getting better every single day and getting sharper. Once the goals start coming, he's a really dangerous guy to play against."
Nashville thriving away from home
Nashville's latest road victory — the team had never even scored at Gillette Stadium in MLS play — comes on the heels of a 2-0 win at the Chicago Fire on June 14. It's now 3-0-2 in its past five games away from Geodis Park.
"I think the key to it is just being consistent and being honest with ourselves when we say we're going to focus on being ourselves every game," Lovitz said. "Not trying to be a chameleon and morph into whatever environment we're going to play and who we're going to play, just trying to do us better."
Nashville wins another rematch
The Revolution were the fourth team Nashville has played twice in 2025. Nashville has won all four of those games, taking 12 points from New England, the New York Red Bulls, Charlotte FC and the Fire after earning just four against them the first time around.
"We are a learning and growing environment," Callaghan said. "We have ways that we want to evaluate our performances. We don't get high when we win, we don't get low when we lose. We just stick to how we prepare for opponents."
Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.