Win Still Eludes Austin FC In Six-Goal Thriller Against Toronto FC

In a rain-soaked Saturday matinee against Toronto FC north of the border, Austin FC managed to score three goals in a game for the first time in the year 2026. Unfortunately for the Verde and Black, however, it still wasn’t good enough for the club’s second win of the year.

The visitors led on two separate occasions over the 90 minutes, including with as few as two minutes remaining before stoppage time, but ultimately had to settle for a 3-3 draw with their Eastern Conference opponents.

After weathering an early flurry of Toronto shots against Brad Stuver’s goal, Austin got on the board first via center back Jon Bell, who collected a Jon Gallagher throw-in, turned with the ball and fired a shot which deflected into the Toronto net in the 29th minute.

ATXFC could have doubled up the advantage in the 34th minute as Toronto keeper Luka Gavran found himself out of position near the edge of his penalty area, with the ball at Myrto Uzuni’s feet. But instead of laying a pass off to either of two oncoming runners in front of the open goal, Uzuni opted to take the shot himself, which Gavran acrobatically saved. Still, ATXFC took the 1-0 lead to halftime.

Minutes into the second half, though, Toronto leveled things through Dániel Sallói on the end of a counter attack that met little resistance from Austin’s defense. Then, in the 67th minute, Sallói ignited an attack which saw Toronto take a 2-1 lead off a finish from Canadian international Richie Laryea.

The TFC advantage lasted just over 10 minutes before Austin FC scored one of its best team goals of the season, culminating with Facundo Torres’ long-awaited first Austin FC goal. Uzuni led the breakaway, finding Robert Taylor with an accurate lofted pass. With one composed touch with the outside of his right boot, Taylor laid the ball into the path of Torres, who kissed his shot off the post and in.

Beautiful team play leads to the equalizer from Facu! pic.twitter.com/qQMGYwIVmZ

What Austin FC hoped was the winning goal came in the 82nd minute, thanks to a bit of rare Verde good fortune. Torres attempted to find Christian Ramirez in the 18-yard box, but fired his pass too hard for Ramirez to handle. However, after deflecting off the substitute striker’s boot, the ball careened right back to Ramirez off the chest of a Toronto defender, allowing Ramirez to score easily.

However, the luck swung in Toronto’s favor in the 88th minute as, this time, a shot deflected off the post of Austin’s goal and right to TFC’s Kobe Franklin, who tucked a shot between Stuver and the post for the final tally in a wild six-goal affair.

“We had to come back from a losing position, and the team responded well [but] we are not happy about this [result],” ATX head coach Nico Estévez said. “We came here to win. We didn’t come here to tie the game.”

Saturday marked the fourth time in eight MLS games that the club conceded a goal in the 80th minute or later that either turned a win into a draw or a draw into a loss, costing the club six points in the standings. 

“We’re very disappointed with that,” Estévez said. “There are moments where we have to have better discipline on our positioning, and also it’s about winning your duels. It’s about being strong enough to have the right mindset to do it collectively… to be the winning team in those moments.”

Austin FC now shifts focus to the other coast, with another away test against the San Jose Earthquakes looming Wednesday night, with the ATX players hope could mark a change in the club’s results.

“Once you get the first [win], the rest will start to fall,” Ramirez said. “It’s a short memory now to move on to San Jose.”

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