AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Marcel Hartel had two goals, Simon Becher also scored a goal, and St. Louis City beat Austin FC 3-1 on Saturday night.
Austin (12-12-8) has 44 points and is tied with Portland — which plays fifth-place Seattle (46 points) later Saturday — for sixth in the Western Conference.
Hartel blasted a shot from well outside the area that slipped under the crossbar and inside the right post to give St. Louis a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute.
Oleksandr Svatok scored his first career goal in MLS to make it 1-1 in the 36th. The 31-year-old defender headed home a corner kick played to the back post by Owen Wolff.
On the counter-attack, Hartel put away a cross played by Célio Pompeu to give St. Louis a 2-1 lead in the 45th.
Becher capped the scoring in the third minute of stoppage t