Prince Owusu has goal and assist to help Montreal fend off Austin 3-2

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MONTREAL (AP) — Prince Owusu had an assist in the first half before scoring on a penalty kick in the second to help CF Montreal beat Austin FC 3-2 on Saturday night.

Two teenage midfielders teamed up to give Montreal (5-15-8) a 1-0 lead in the 9th minute. Hennadii Synchuk, 19, scored his first goal on 18-year-old Olger Escobar's first assist. It was the seventh start and 10th appearance for Synchuk and the first start and seventh appearance for Escobar.

Austin (9-9-8) pulled even in the 40th minute on a goal Myrto Uzuni — his fourth in his first season in the league. Defender Mikkler Desler and Diego Rubio both collected their third assist of the campaign.

Montreal took a 2-1 lead into halftime when Dante Sealy scored in the third minute of stoppage time with assists from defender Dawid Bugaj and Owusu. Sealy has five goals in his first season with Montreal after scoring twice in 38 appearances over four seasons with FC Dallas. It was the second assist for Bugaj and the fifth for Owusu.

Owusu scored his club-high 12th goal and gave Montreal a 3-1 lead on a penalty kick in the 67th minute. The PK was awarded after a foul on Desler.

Austin cut it to 3-2 in the 77th minute on Owen Wolff's career-high fourth goal of the season — all in the last five matches. Uzuni snagged his second assist.

Thomas Gillier finished with four saves for Montreal in his third career start. The 21-year-old was also tagged with a yellow card in the 78th minute.

Brad Stuver saved four shots for Austin.

Montreal improves to 2-7-5 with their first victory at home since beating New York City FC in June.

Austin had 1-0 victories in the previous two matchups in the series.

Austin will host the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday. Montreal travels to play Toronto FC on Saturday.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/soccer