Nashville SC's Shak Mohammed could see the confidence in his teammates' eyes, and in that moment, he knew they would emerge with all three points.
Nashville had just conceded a 76th-minute goal
that cut its lead over Austin FC in half, and subsequent pressure had the home side on the verge of an equalizer. But as the 23-year-old Mohammed looked across the field, scanning his teammates, he didn't detect an ounce of panic."Nobody was talking negative, we were all positive, and I could see the energy," he said. "This is a team that is built on character from top to bottom. I had no doubt that we were going to be able to get the result that we needed.
"You can see from the way we were attacking the game right down to the end, everyone running, everyone trying
to score more goals. Again, that is the character of our team. We just keep going until the end, regardless of the situation."
NSC didn't take long to flip the momentum back in its favor, and 12 minutes after Austin was given new life with its goal, it was the substitute Mohammed who put the game on ice. Picking the ball up outside the box, he danced his way toward goal before whipping a right-footed shot into the bottom right corner to all but secure the three points.
In stoppage time, Nashville added one more goal for good measure courtesy of Hany Mukhtar, securing the 4-1 win on Oct. 10 in its first trip to Austin (7-10-11, 31 points) since claiming the 2025 U.S. Open Cup title.
Nashville's 63 points (19-6-3) set an MLS record for most points through 28 games, and NSC now sits just 11 points off the all-time record, set by Inter Miami in 2024. Nashville SC also set a club record for most single-season wins across all competitions at 23.
"From the first day I arrived in Nashville, BJ (Callaghan) has emphasized the idea of attacking everything. Regardless of what the situation is, we just keep going. Our ultimate goal is always to get three points. Honestly, when it was 2-1, there wasn't much of a tactical switch," Mohammed said.
"Our whole idea was let's go get the next goal . . . when we got the third one, our whole character was let's go get the next one and it happened again. Top to bottom in this organization that's what we do. We attack everything and that paid off at the end."
Brian Schwake stands tall in return from USMNT
It took a pair of clutch saves from Nashville goalkeeper Brian Schwake to hold Austin scoreless in the first half, as he made his return from international duty. Schwake missed NSC's previous match after receiving his first call-up to the U.S. men's national team for its recent batch of friendlies.
Schwake made his U.S. debut as he subbed on for the second half of its Sept. 29 match against Chile. He played all 90 minutes in a 1-0 win over Canada on Oct. 6.
He returned to Nashville the following day and stepped back into the starting lineup as he continues his bid to be MLS Goalkeeper of the Year. Schwake made a key one-on-one stop against Austin's Myrto Uzuni in the opening minutes of the game, then in the 42nd minute he dove to get his fingertips on what looked to be a sure goal from Jon Gallagher.
"Every guy here knows that they need to seize the moment (when) they're called upon. I think we've seen over the course of the year, Brian has made a lot of big saves for us," Callaghan said. "At the same time, I think there were guys that especially toward the end of the game made some big plays . . . so a team performance."
Harrison Campbell can be reached at hcampbell@usatodayco.com and follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @hccamp.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How Nashville SC handled late Austin FC surge to emerge with record-setting win
