WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Barlow finished with his first career hat trick after scoring two of four first-half goals by Chicago’s front line and the Fire breezed to a 7-1 victory over D.C. United on Saturday night.
Maren Haile-Selassie found the net in the 8th minute for his first goal in his first start and 12th appearance of the season to give the Fire a quick lead. Jonathan Bamba scored for the third time in his first season in the league for a two-goal lead in the 24th minute.
Barlow scored his first goal of the season in the 30th minute and his second in the 44th as the Fire took a 4-0 lead into halftime. He finished the hat trick off in the 65th. Barlow has never scored more than four goals in a season.
Haile-Selassie and Bamba had assists on Barlow’s second netter. Haile-Selassie’s was his third this season after a career-high eight in 2024 and Bamba collected his seventh in his 16th career appearance — all starts.
Jonathan Dean and Rominigue Kouamé had assists on Haile-Selassie’s goal and Philip Zinckernagel notched one on Bamba’s score. It was the first assist for Kouamé in his third start and 10th career appearance. Dean’s assist was his third this season and Zinckernagel’s was his seventh in his first season in the league.
Zinckernagel opened the scoring in the second half in the 56th minute with his seventh goal in 15 appearances. Brian Gutiérrez came off the bench and scored in the first minute of stoppage time. It was his sixth goal, matching his career high set last season.
Dominique Badji entered in the second half and scored his first goal of the season in the 60th minute for DC United.
Jeffrey Gal finished with two saves for the Fire (7-5-4) in his second career start and third appearance.
Luis Barraza saved four shots for DC United (4-8-6), which was coming off its second road win this season — 2-1 over FC Cincinnati.
Six of Chicago’s seven wins have come in 10 road matches. The Fire are 1-1-4 at home.
The Fire return home to play Nashville SC on Saturday. DC United travels to play Real Salt Lake on Saturday.