Nashville SC falls to LA Galaxy in final match of grueling 8-game road trip

An exhausting eight-game road stint for Nashville SC ended Saturday night with a 1-0 loss to the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

Following a Galaxy corner kick, center forward Dejan Joveljić found the bottom right corner of the net in the 86th minute to seal the win. After Nashville (3-3-2, 11 points) took control of the first half, the Galaxy (5-2-1, 16 points) pinned Nashville in its own half, taking 16 shots to Nashville's four. Shots on target finished, 6-1, in the Galaxy's favor.

Nashville logged the final 3,560 round-trip miles of a grueling 18,000-mile journey to begin the 2022 MLS season. Up next for Nashville is its soccer stadium debut next Sunday against the Philadelphia Union, the best team in MLS thus far (5-1-2, 17 points).

"It is disappointing to lose a game like that, late," Nashville midfielder Sean Davis said after the match. "But from a big picture point of view, I think we should be proud of the results over the course of these first eight games."

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Nashville's road trip at a glance

Nashville earned 1.38 points per match in its eight away contests. Its 1.57 average through seven matches was the best in MLS history.

Though its first two losses against FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake in March were concerning, impressive wins at Seattle Sounders FC, Columbus Crew and Sporting Kansas City provide a well-informed perspective as to what team Nashville can be while playing at home.

Coach Gary Smith said the collective theme inside of Nashville's locker room Saturday was "devastated" and that Nashville lacked confidence on the ball for much of the second half. However, Smith was was quick to reference his approval of his team's 11-point feat

"We certainly have a good stretch at home now that I'd like to think these guys are looking forward to and of course, the fans are as well," Smith said. "… I think we all feel that at certain points in this run of games, we had to show that we could win games, that we weren't just going to be a defensive unit and take charge with what the games presented to us. And I think we've done that."

For stories about Nashville SC or Soccer in Tennessee, contact Drake Hills at DHills@gannett.com. Follow Drake on Twitter at @LiveLifeDrake. Connect with Drake on Instagram at @drakehillssoccer and on Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville SC loses to LA Galaxy in last road game, opens GEODIS Park next