Nashville SC, Toronto FC tie; fans hold moment of silence for Covenant School victims

The most memorable moment from Nashville SC's game against Toronto FC on Saturday at Geodis Park was centered around the fans — the 27,000 in attendance remaining silent for six minutes to honor the victims killed in The Covenant School shooting on March 27.

Nashville and Toronto played to a promising, yet scoreless draw, which consisted of just six combined shots on goal. But between the 6th and 12th minute, fans held a moment of silence for the three 9-year-old students and three school staff members who were killed in the Nashville area's first mass shooting since 2018.

Toronto's litany of ties this season (1-1-5, 8 points) now totals five and Nashville (3-2-2, 11 points) picked up its second draw of the season and first at home.

Here are our takeaways from the game:

Fans lift 'End Gun Violence' banner

During the moment of silence in the first half, fans shined their cell phone lights during the moment of silence and lifted an orange banner behind the north-end goal with bold white letters, which read: "END GUN VIOLENCE!"

About 10 rows up in that same safe-standing section created for Nashville's most fanatic supporters, fans lifted up another banner of the same colors, but in Spanish. The banner read: "¡YA BASTA! ENOUGH!" which translates to "stop! enough!"

At the start of the 13th minute, fans sang "This Little Light of Mine" by Odetta, before continuing to cheer on their teams.

"It was an important moment for the committee," said fullback Shaq Moore. "Obviously those lives, we want to make sure that we remember them and honor them and hopefully, bring light to the situation. Hopefully, we can act on and do something about it, so it doesn't happen again. We're the families, we're praying for them."

Nashville coach Gary Smith said he knew ahead of time that a moment of silence was to take place, but wasn't sure what the reaction was going to be.

"The sadness and grieving is not going to end in the next couple of weeks, when maybe some of us will have moved on and carried on with our lives. They're gonna have to deal with that for a long, long time and my hope is that the support that I know the club's showing, I know that our ownership group are huge supporters of this city, and of course, having situations like this," Smith said. "Maybe there's something that we can do as a club that somehow, someway just helps in that process."

A no-call handball in penalty box

Late in the second half, Nashville left-back Dan Lovitz collected the ball deep into Toronto's 18-yard box and attempted to chip the ball toward center forward CJ Sapong, but the ball deflected off of Raoul Petretta's right arm, which was extended in an unnatural position. None of that mattered, however, because Lovitz was whistled offside.

Smith described Nashville's attack as "lacking finesse," noting often-overhit passes and the types and timing of crosses into the box. But Smith summarized the theme of Saturday's game as he did the referee Guido Gonzales Jr.

"I've seen a replay of it and I do not know how the referee or (video assistant referee) are calling it offside." Smith said. "I thought as well that coincided with honestly, a very, very erratic display from the official in the middle. And that was disappointing to me. It broke up the game in vital moments, especially in the first period."

For stories about Nashville SC or Soccer in Tennessee, contact Drake Hills at DHills@gannett.com. Follow Drake on Twitter at @LiveLifeDrake. Connect with Drake on Instagram at @drakehillssoccer and on Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville SC ties Toronto FC 0-0 as fans honor The Covenant School