C. J. Sapong’s hat trick lifted the Philadelphia Union to a 3-0 victory over the New York Red Bulls, snapping the Union’s 15-match Major League Soccer winless streak.
The Union’s first victory of this season insured the Red Bulls’ own away losing streak continued — now stretching to five matches.
Sapong scored in the 74th, 81st and 85th minutes to take his season goal total to seven and give Philadelphia a first regular-season win since a 2-0 victory over Sporting Kansas City last August.
He scored his first goal when his shot deflected off the leg of a Red Bulls defender.
Sapong headed in his second goal from Chris Pontius and Fabian Herbers and capped off the outburst when he converted a penalty after Red Bulls defender Damien Perrinelle was called for hand ball in the box.
Elsewhere, teenager Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla was the hero for Montreal as the Impact notched their first away win of the season with a 1-0 victory over DC United in Washington.
Tabla, 18, put Montreal ahead in the 13th minute, taking a pass from Adrian Arregui and eluding Jared Jeffrey and Luciano Acosta to find some room.
He darted toward the penalty arc and fired a low shot that beat DC keeper Travis Worra inside the left corner.
It was Tabla’s second professional goal in his fourth MLS start since inking a contract with the club in October.
“I thought he was going to slip [a pass to] one of us,” Impact forward Dominic Oduro said. “But he saw that ambition and he took it.”
Tabla said he could have passed to Oduro or Ignacio Piatti.
“But I saw the defender, when I cut in front of him he started giving me some space. And I saw the position of the keeper. And I thought to myself, ‘Why not to shoot?'”
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