Charlotte FC's first home win since April 4 came in a match that was effectively decided by halftime. Wilfried Zaha scored in the 19th minute, Toronto FC equalized three minutes later through Derrick Etienne Jr., and David Schnegg restored the lead in the 35th with his first goal for the club. Pep Biel closed the scoring with an 84th-minute penalty. Bank of America Stadium got its first three points from a home match since the Philadelphia win six weeks ago.
The record now reads 5-6-3. Eighteen points. The club's last win, anywhere, was April 18. Wednesday's home loss to NYCFC had put the club five straight without a win.
The opening goal followed a pattern Charlotte has been running for most of the season — Kerwin Vargas delivers a cross, someone finishes it. This time the runner was Zaha, who guided a low strike into the bottom-left corner from a Vargas ball that Biel had threaded forward. It was Zaha's third goal of the season and his 13th in 43 career appearances for the club. Biel's assist was his fifth this season.
Toronto's response came immediately. Jonathan Osorio picked out Etienne Jr. on the left flank, and Etienne — recently named to Haiti's final World Cup 26 roster — cut inside and hit a long-range strike that crashed in off the crossbar. The 22nd-minute equalizer was his third MLS goal of 2026 and Osorio's third assist of the year. Etienne now has 22 goals in 229 career matches.
Five minutes later, Toronto thought they had pulled ahead. Jackson Gilman, making his MLS debut after a short-term agreement from Toronto FC II, met an Alonso Coello free kick with a header that powered into the net. The on-field VAR review ruled it out — a foul by Osorio in the build-up. Charlotte had been asked twice in eight minutes to absorb a Toronto blow, and the second time the answer was procedural.
The go-ahead goal arrived in the 35th. Vargas found Schnegg outside the box. The Austrian left-back drilled a precise low strike into the bottom corner — his first goal for Charlotte and only the second of his career, with the other dating to 2024 at D.C. United. Vargas had two assists by halftime, both first-half balls that did the work.
The 64th minute belonged to Toronto and the post. Kobe Franklin went down in the box; the sequence involved a ricochet off Franklin's own head onto the woodwork; play was waved on. No penalty. Nicksoen Gomis had come on for Toronto six minutes earlier — his first club appearance since May 3, 2025, after an Achilles injury — but Toronto's chance for an equalizer came and went on Franklin's own head.
Charlotte's third came from the spot. In the 84th, Osorio fouled Morrison Agyemang at the back post from a corner, and Biel converted. It was Biel's seventh goal of the season. He now has 39 goal contributions and 20 goals in his Charlotte tenure — one shy of Karol Swiderski's club record.
Kristijan Kahlina finished with three saves. Luka Gavran stopped two for Toronto.
Charlotte is 4-2-2 at home this season. That's a serviceable home record on its own; the problem has been the six weeks between the Philadelphia win and Saturday. Five of those matches were on the road. Two were home matches that didn't return points. Saturday returned the home column to functional. New England visits May 23.
Toronto's loss interrupted what had been a stretch of stability. The Reds had played nine straight at BMO Field — going 2-2-5 over that homestand. Saturday was their first road trip since March 8 and dropped them to 1-3-0 away. They visit Chicago next Saturday.
The all-time series sits at 5-3-1 in Charlotte's favor, with Charlotte 4-1-0 at home. Toronto's only road win in the matchup came on the club's first trip to Charlotte, a 2-0 result in 2022. Saturday extended Charlotte's home dominance in this particular fixture and removed, for one news cycle, the question of when Charlotte would win at Bank of America Stadium again.