Westwood and Kahlina guide Charlotte to 1-0 victory over Fire

CHICAGO (AP) — Ashley Westwood scored a second-half free kick and Kristijan Kahlina finished with five saves for her third straight clean sheet in a 1-0 win over the Chicago Fire on Wednesday night.

Westwood fired a right-footed shot into the top right corner of the net in the 60th minute, scoring his second goal of the season for Charlotte (6-5-2), which was coming off back-to-back home wins to begin May.

Kahlina has five clean sheets this season, tying him with Cincinnati’s Roman Celentano for the league lead.

Chris Brady made a save for the Fire (2-7-4), who have gone 0-4-2 – with both ties scoreless – in their last six games. Chicago hasn’t won since beating the Houston Dynamo at home on April 6. The Fire have allowed 23 goals, tied for second in the Eastern Conference, and have scored just 12. The club falls to 2-4-1 at home.

Kahlina made two saves and Brady was untested in the scoreless first half.

First-year Charlotte coach Dean Smith earned his first win on the road.

Charlotte returns home to play the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday. Chicago will host the Columbus Crew on Saturday.

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