St. Louis CITY SC earned their third consecutive road win with a 3-1 victory over Austin FC on Saturday night at Q2 stadium. Marcel Hartel opened the scoring in the 28th minute, putting CITY SC up 1-0. Austin responded eight minutes later with a goal from Oleksandr Svatok. Hartel struck again in the 45th minute, securing his second goal of the night and his second career MLS brace, giving St. Louis a 2-1 lead entering halftime. CITY SC limited Austin to just one shot on goal in the second half and got an insurance goal from Simon Becher in stoppage time to secure the 3-1 victory. Following their bye week, St. Louis returns home for their final regular season match of 2025, facing Real Salt Lake on Saturday, October 18 at 8:00 p.m. CT.
Postgame Notes
- Marcel Hartel scored his ninth goal of the season. Hartel has eight goal contributions (five goals, three assists) in his last eight MLS matches
- Tonight marked Hartel’s second career MLS brace, with his first coming earlier this year against Portland Timbers on July 23. Hartel is now tied with João Klauss for a team-leading nine goals
- Hartel’s brace marks the third time this season a CITY SC player has scored twice in a match, and the second time in the last three games that a player has recorded a first-half brace (Brendan McSorley on September 20 at San Jose Earthquakes)
- Simon Becher scored his third goal of the season
- Alfredo Morales picked up his first and second assists of the season
- João Klauss earned his third assist of the season. Klauss now has three assists in his last four matches
- Célio Pompeu notched his third assist of the season
- Tonight’s win was CITY SC’s third consecutive road victory, the first time the team has achieved this since June-July of 2023
- CITY SC improved their all-time record against Austin FC to 4-1-1
October 4, 2025 – Q2 Stadium (Austin, TX)
Goal-Scoring Plays
STL: Marcel Hartel (Alfredo Morales), 28th minute –Marcel Hartel scored with a right footed shot from the central position outside the box to the top right corner.
ATX: Oleksandr Svatok (Owen Wolff), 36th minute – Oleksandr Svatok scored with a header from the center of the box to the middle right zone.
STL: Marcel Hartel (Célio Pompeu, João Klauss), 45th minute –Marcel Hartel scored with a right footed shot from the center of the box to the lower right zone.
STL: Simon Becher (Alfredo Morales), 90th minute + 3 –Simon Becher scored with a right footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom right corner.
Scoring Summary
STL: Marcel Hartel (Alfredo Morales), 28’
ATX: Oleksandr Svatok (Owen Wolff), 36’
STL: Marcel Hartel (Célio Pompeu, João Klauss), 45’
STL: Simon Becher (Alfredo Morales), 90’+3
Misconduct Summary
STL: Alfredo Morales (caution), 34’
ATX: Ilie Sanchez (caution), 42’
STL: Brendan McSorley (caution), 72’
ATX: Robert Taylor (caution), 90’+6
ATX: Diego Rubio (caution), 90’+6
Lineups
ATX: GK Brad Stuver; D Jon Gallagher, D Oleksandr Svatok, D Brendan Hines-Ike, D Mikkel Desler (Zan Kolmanic, 56’); M Ilie Sanchez © (CJ Fodrey, 70’), M Dani Pereira, M Besard Sabovic (Diego Rubio, 56’); F Owen Wolff (Nicolas Dubersarsky, 78’), F Myrto Uzuni, F Osman Bukari (Robert Taylor, 78’)
Substitutes not used: GK Stefan Cleveland, D Mateja Djordjevic, D Julio Cascante, F Jader Obrian
TOTAL SHOTS: 14; SHOTS ON GOAL: 2; FOULS: 13; OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 5
STL: GK Roman Bürki ©; D Tomas Totland, D Henry Kessler, D Fallou Fall, D Conrad Wallem; M Chris Durkin, M Alfredo Morales; M Célio Pompeu (Brendan McSorley, 64’), M Marcel Hartel (Tomáš Ostrák, 90’+3), M Sangbin Jeong (Mykhi Joyner, 64’); F João Klauss (Simon Becher, 78’)
Substitutes not used: GK Ben Lundt, D Timo Baumgartl, D Kyle Hiebert, D Devin Padelford, M Seth Antwi
TOTAL SHOTS: 22; SHOTS ON GOAL: 8; FOULS: 8; OFFSIDES: 2; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 1
Referee: Ricardo Fierro
Assistant Referees: Jason White, Kevin Lock, Malik Badawi
VAR: Sorin Stoica
AVAR: Mark Allatin
Venue: Q2 Stadium
Postgame Audio: Audio
Postgame Video: Footage (Passcode: .ZGi9iAr)
Interim Head Coach David Critchley
On how the team has figured out how to win games on the road:
I think I figured out that with the way you train Monday to Friday and the constant communication to the players of when we travel on the road, it shouldn’t change who we are and what we try to accomplish and what we try to do. That’s been a constant that I’ve had since I stepped in and week one, I’ve always talked about the mentality of, even on a weekend, can you have the desire and a mentality to go out and try and win the football game? So I just think with time, you start to see now the back-to-back-to-back road wins. And I think what I’ve seen on the road from these guys is we’re efficient in how we attack, and we are very bought into the defending principles that I tried to establish with the group, and that’s what’s helping us win football games right now.
On the team’s bounce back from their last match against LAFC:
It was something we addressed. That was a game that didn’t look like us and it wasn’t anywhere not good enough for our standards. But again, resiliency is a big piece in development, and how you come back, and in all credit to the players, they came back from that defeat and that performance. They knew it wasn’t good enough and got right back to work and progressed this week and with the result tonight. So, I was very happy with them responding well from that one off game that we didn’t look good enough, and we showed tonight that we can bounce back quickly enough.
On Marcel Hartel’s recent performances:
Marcel has grown at a great rate. You definitely see the efficiency in his striking of fantastic goals, and how he scores, and the angles he creates for himself. He’s also finding those little pockets of space in the box for the second goal, so offensively, he’s helping the team impact those now with big time plays. I’ve always known the case has been there for him. It was just going to take time. And then I have to give him a more sort of shout out, I think I did a couple of weeks ago. The way he defends now, the way he presses is exactly what I want to see from my central midfielder. So, he’s been fantastic on both sides of the ball. He’s getting better every single weekend, and I’m excited for his future.
Midfielder Marcel Hartel
On the team’s recent performances on the road:
Three away games on the road, three wins, three good games. Good performance with the ball, against the ball in the end fighting. Today, we also killed the game in the end. We were not sitting back. We also try to go for the transition. And today we scored a lot, and we also won.
On the hunger within the team to prove themselves in tonight’s match:
We are very happy, especially after last week was not a good game from everybody, from the whole team. But we showed a different face today, especially away here in Austin against a good team. The mood is very good in the locker room. And Critch mentioned before the game that we have to show a different face in all our situations, against the ball, with the ball going.
On Alfredo Morales’ impact tonight:
I mean, Alfie has a very important role in this team, especially on the field and off the field. He has a lot of experience in this league and also, like in Europe, and he brings a lot of experience to this team to help in every situation. Every time when he needs to go on the field, he’s there every time he has played good games, and also today, with two assists, he deserves a lot. I’m very happy for him as well.
