Sunday saw Shavar Thomas and his CT United side wrap up an extensive road trip as they traveled north of the border to York Lions Stadium in Toronto to square off against Toronto FC II. The Connecticut club was able to secure a 4-2 win.

Thomas made three changes from the club’s last outing, which saw them suffer a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Columbus Crew 2. Gunther Rankenburg made his sixth consecutive start in goal behind the backline of Andre Applewhaite, Rickson van Hees, Michael Boamah, and Lukas Kamrath. Ernesto Gómez, Dylan Lacy, and a debuting Sean Petrie composed the midfield three behind the attacking trio of Barnabás Tanyi, Alex Monis, and Daniel D’Ippolito.

Lacy nearly got CT United on the board in the second minute as he received a pass with his back to the goal atop the box. After spinning forward and a few fancy touches around the Toronto defense, Lacy lasered a shot to the right side of the goal that Zakaria Nakhly got his hands to and deflected away as the TFC II defense cleared it away from danger.

Rankenburg came up big for CT United in the third minute. After getting on top of a through ball forward and pacing past his defender, Jahmarie Nolan found himself one-on-one with the keeper and rocketed a shot to the upper-half of the net that forced Rankenburg to leap up and tip the ball up and over the goal and out of play to keep the game scoreless.

Damar Dixon came close to finding the opener for Toronto in the seventh minute. After receiving a pass and maneuvering around the top of the box, Dixon fizzed a shot to the bottom-left corner that forced Rankenburg to make a diving save to keep the game level.

After having his earlier shot denied, Dixon was destined to find the goal in the 22nd minute. After receiving Jahmarie Nolan’s pass on the left flank, Dixon maneuvered centrally and outpaced his defender to curl a shot to the right side of the net that evaded the reach of a diving Rankenburg and sailed into the net to give the host side a 1-0 lead.

After having an earlier effort denied, D’Ippolito found the leveler in the 33rd minute when a corner kick led to Dylan Lacy heading the ball centrally from the right side of the six-yard box to D’Ippolito, who flicked it in to level the game at one apiece.

The match didn’t stay level for long as the CT United offense’s momentum remained locked in. After intercepting a pass in his defensive end, Monis sprang a ball up the right flank into the path of a darting D’Ippolito. D’Ippolito got onto the ball and stood strong as he withstood the TFC II pressure and pushed toward Nakhly. The goal scorer attempted to slot the ball far post and despite it taking a slight deflection off a diving Nakhly, D’Ippolito’s effort still found the back of the net as CT United took a 2-1 lead on the road.

As if the 2-1 lead wasn’t enough, momentum swung in CT’s favor in the 61st minute as Toronto’s Micah Chisholm tripped up Lacy atop the six-yard box, which led to Fabrizio Stasolla awarding CT a penalty kick. If the penalty kick wasn’t enough, Toronto found themselves down a man as Damar Dixon was sent off following the decision.

Monis was the one to step to the spot, and he delivered a right-footed shot down the middle to put CT United up 3-1 and notch a team-leading fifth goal of the 2026 season.

Thomas’ first changes of the day came in the 65th minute as Hivan Kouonang and Academy prospect Niko Koloniaris replaced Petrie and Tanyi. Another change came in the 70th minute as Academy prospect Jeremy Medrandra replaced Boamah. CT’s final change came in the 79th minute as Laurie Goddard replaced D’Ippolito.

Despite the man disadvantage, Toronto was not going down without a fight. A quick restart from Zakaria Nakhly led to a series of passes, which eventually led the ball to Kervon Kerr atop the box. Kerr took a second before dribbling a shot to the bottom-left corner and past a diving Rankenburg and in to draw one back for the home side.

But all hope for Toronto dissipated in the 87th minute after Antone Bossenberry tripped up Niko Koloniaris in the top-left corner of the box as CT earned its second penalty kick opportunity of the match. Applewhaite stepped to the spot, looking to seal the game shut for Connecticut, and did so by sending a left-footed shot to the bottom-left corner and in to net his first goal for the club, and gave CT the 4-2 lead.

Academy prospect Niko Koloniaris found his name etched into the referee’s book in the first minute of stoppage time as he received a yellow card following his tackle on Lucas Dawson.

With the road trip in the rear-view mirror, CT United FC now prepares for a summer of soccer at home as the club plays its next eight contests in the Constitution state. It all begins on June 18 when they host FC Cincinnati 2 at Yale’s Reese Stadium at 7:00 PM ET.