Nashville SC eliminated from MLS Cup Playoffs after being shut out by Orlando City

For Nashville SC, a season that began with so much energy and promise ended Tuesday with fans strewing towards the exits at Geodis Park with time still on the clock.

Orlando City beat Nashville, 1-0, in Game 2 of a best-of-three first-round series in the MLS Cup Playoffs, sweeping the Boys in Gold out of the postseason. Nashville needed to win to force a deciding Game 3 in Orlando.

Nashville, which had a 10-game unbeaten streak in MLS play between April and June and rose as high as second in the Supporters' Shield standings, ended its season after failing to score a goal in three straight matches, dating back to an Oct. 21 defeat to the New York Red Bulls in the regular-season finale.

Orlando moves on to face either the third-seeded Columbus Crew or sixth seed Atlanta United, who are tied at 1-1 in their first-round series and will play Game 3 Sunday.

Nashville starts game with big mistake

The first-ever postseason game at Geodis Park couldn’t have begun worse for the home team.

In the sixth minute, Dax McCarty put too much air under a routine back pass to Walker Zimmerman, allowing Ivan Angulo to steal it just 15 yards away from goal. The Orlando midfielder wheeled around and took a shot which deflected off of Lukas MacNaughton’s shin and popped over Joe Willis’s arm into the net.

Angulo's goal stood in stark contrast to the goal scored by Wilder Cartagena in Orlando City's 1-0 victory in Game 1, a rocket of a shot that left Willis with no chance. This, instead, was an uncharacteristic blunder for a Nashville defense that tied for the league lead in scoring defense with just 32 goals allowed.

Poor start leads to more urgency

Falling behind that quickly did induce a more attacking mentality from Nashville. They began pressing more — in the first half, they had nearly 60% possession — and generally looked more threatening than they did during Game 1. They even found the net when Hany Mukhtar put back a rebound in the 38th minute, but Mukhtar was offside when Daniel Lovitz took the initial shot.

Nashville coach Gary Smith's second-half substitutions reflected his team's desperation. In the 76th minute, Smith replaced defender Lukas MacNaughton with forward Teal Bunbury, leaving Nashville with just three at the back as it went all out for an equalizer. In the late minutes, even Zimmerman came forward to join the attack.

But Nashville's inability to find that equalizer harkened back to a sentiment Smith has often expressed after losses like this one. The offensive effort, while positive and not lacking for effort, didn't have enough precision when it came time to the final pass or dribble.

In the end, it resulted in the final whistle of Nashville's 2023 season.

Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: MLS Cup Playoffs: Nashville SC eliminated by Orlando City