USL Game Report

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

MONTREAL – For a second consecutive game, FC Montreal’s offense reached a new level. Charles Joly recorded a first-half hat trick and Montreal defeated Saint Louis FC 5-2 at Stade Saputo on Wednesday.

The five goals are a season high for FC Montreal, which was coming off a 4-2 win against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. The nine goals in Montreal’s two-game winning stretch equal the nine goals the squad had scored in the combined 14 games beforehand.

Montreal improved to 3-11-2 on the season, and the 11 points have nearly moved the squad out of the Eastern Conference cellar. The team trails Toronto FC II and Wilmington Hammerheads FC by just one point.

“I think it shows the continuity of what we built since the beginning of the season,” FC Montreal defender Janouk Charbonneau said. “Despite our record, I think our play was good in most of the games. For us, in the second half of the season, we have a 2-0-0 record.”

Saint Louis FC fell to 4-7-6 (18 points) with the loss.

On Wednesday, Saint Louis actually had the upper hand against Montreal when James Musa scored off of a volley in the fifth minute as Bryan Gaul set him up with the free kick.

FC Montreal responded, with Joly doing all of the scoring. With goals in the 13th, 25th and 40th minutes, Joly helped Montreal storm into halftime with a 3-1 cushion.

Zakaria Messoudi added a goal in the 51st minute to push Montreal’s lead to 4-1.

Saint Louis’ Mike Ambersley scored off a header in the 71st minute to cut the deficit to 4-2, and the visiting side had several other opportunities to inch back into the match. But in the 87th minute, Alessandro Riggi put the game away with the game’s final score.