Renasant Recap: Nashville Soccer Club Clinches First Place in Eastern Conference for First Time

• Nashville SC is guaranteed home-field advantage at GEODIS Park through the Eastern Conference rounds of the Audi 2026 MLS Cup Playoffs
• The Boys in Gold are off to the best start in MLS history through 30 matches with 67 points
• Landon Donovan MLS MVP candidate Hany Mukhtar scores his sixth goal in his last five matches

SAN JOSE, Calif. (Oct. 17, 2026) – Nashville Soccer Club secured first place in the Eastern Conference for the first time in club history by earning a 1-1 draw at San Jose on Saturday night. With the result, the Boys in Gold extended their unbeaten streak to six (4W-0L-2D) and remained atop the MLS standings by 12 points with four matches to play.

Landon Donovan MLS MVP candidate Hany Mukhtar put Nashville on top in the 34th minute, scoring his sixth goal in his last five matches, before San Jose’s Preston Judd tied the game in the 70th minute.

O captain, my captain: MVP candidate Hany Mukhtar scored his 16th MLS goal of 2026 and 10th since the World Cup break. With a tally in five straight games, Mukhtar matched his career-best MLS scoring streak set in 2022.

Cross-conference dominance: With Saturday’s draw, Nashville SC finished the regular season 4W-0L-2D with a plus-10 goal differential (15-5) against the Western Conference. 

Solid away from home: The Boys in Gold, who have conceded the fewest road goals in MLS (11) and rank second in away goal differential (plus-eight), are 6W-3L-6D on the road this season with just one defeat in their last seven regular season away matches.

Next up: Nashville SC will visit CF Montréal at Stade Saputo on Saturday, Oct. 24 at 12:30 p.m. CT. 

Notes:

Nashville SC

• is off to the best 30-match start in MLS history at 20W-3L-7D and 67 points
• is unbeaten in 22 of its last 24 MLS matches at 16W-2L-6D
• is unbeaten in 34 of 41 matches this season across all competitions (MLS, Concacaf Champions Cup, Leagues Cup)
• is 24W-7L-10D across all competitions this season

Hany Mukhtar

• scored his 16th MLS goal of the season and sixth in his last five matches
• matched his career-best MLS scoring streak at five
• earned Man of the Match honors

Brian Schwake made two saves

Sam Surridge made his 100th career MLS appearances (regular season + playoffs)

Box score:                  

Nashville SC (20W-3L-7D) at San Jose Earthquakes (13W-8L-9D)

Oct. 17, 2026 – PayPal Park

Final score:                 

NSH: 1

SJ: 1

Scoring summary:

NSH: Hany Mukhtar 34’

SJ: Preston Judd (A: Eduard Lowen) 70’

Discipline:

NSH: Shak Mohammed (Caution) 28’

SJ: Beau Leroux (Caution) 39’

SJ: Preston Judd (Caution) 45’+3

SJ: Ian Harkes (Caution) 90’

Lineups:

NSH starters: Brian Schwake; Dan Lovitz (Reed Baker-Whiting 72’), Jeisson Palacios, Maxwell Woledzi, Andy Najar; Shak Mohammed (Elias Saad 46’), Patrick Yazbek (Eddi Tagseth 72’), Matthew Corcoran; Cristian Espinoza (Warren Madrigal 79’), Hany Mukhtar (C), Sam Surridge 

Substitutes: Joe Willis, Josh Bauer, Jack Maher, Alex Muyl, Bryan Acosta

SJ starters: Angus Gunn; Jamar Ricketts (Nick Fernandez 76’), Dave Romney, Daniel Munie, Reid Roberts, Jack Jasinski (Max Floriani 86’); Ronaldo Vieira (C) (Ian Harkes 86’), Eduard Lowen, Beau Leroux; Timo Werner (Ousseni Bouda 67’), Preston Judd (Paul Marie 76’)

Substitutes: Earl Edwards Jr., Vitor Costa, Noel Buck, Luka Jovanovic

Match officials:           

Referee: Joe Dickerson

AR1: Jeremy Hanson

AR2: Chris Elliott

4TH: Malik Badawi 

VAR: Geoff Gamble

AVAR: Claudiu Badea

Weather: 75 degrees and clear