MONTREAL – For Sabrina Furtado, following soccer was a no-brainer. Even though she was born and raised in Montreal, her family emigrated to Canada from the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago in the Atlantic.

“I grew up with it. When you’re Portuguese, you love soccer,” she said outside Saputo Stadium. Like more than 16,000 other fans, she attended the Montreal Impact’s home opener in a season the team’s already begun at a blistering pace. The Impact entered Sunday’s match versus the Columbus Crew with a 4-1 record, good enough for second in Major League Soccer. Although it’s only the second year the Impact has played in North America’s top pro soccer league, fans are responding to a new-look team, according to team vice president Richard Legendre.

“We have a 20,000 capacity with a roof all around” the stands, he said. “We tried to improve the different concessions, and we have an information team around the stadium now.”

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The team changed leadership for this season as well, bringing in coach Marco Schallibaum of Switzerland and hiring veteran Italian defender Alessandro Nesta. Schallibaum sat out Sunday’s game, serving a suspension for a reported dust-up with an official.

Team officials estimate that about half of the Impact’s fans come from an 18 to 35 demographic. Soccer is a growing sport in Canada – its participants at the youth association level are legion.

Some fans even dared to place the sport above the city’s religion of choice – hockey.

“There’s no comparison between the two,” said Carole L’Italien, a mother of two. “We’re very happy. We have season tickets for the entire family, the kids love it.”

The Impact ended up tying the Crew 1-1, after Montreal striker Marco Di Vaio and Crew forward Domenic Oduro each found the back of the net. But for Montrealers at the game, the draw served as the unofficial marker that spring had begun, and an optimistic start.

“It’s nice to be back outside, in the great weather,” said fan James Hammond. “It’s nice to be back in the home stadium.”