FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The Columbus Crew extended the New England Revolution's home winless streak to three games, getting a late equalizer from Alejandro Moreno to cap a two-goal comeback in a 3-3 draw Saturday night at Gillette Stadium.
Robbie Rogers tallied his first MLS goal in the ninth minute after being played through by Ned Grabavoy to give the Crew an early lead. New England then erupted for three consecutive goals. Two Adam Cristman strikes (13th and 32nd minutes) goals sandwiched a Pat Noonan finish (23rd minute) to give the home side a 3-1 lead before Guillermo Barros Schelotto scored on the stroke of halftime from another Grabavoy feed.
Despite the wide-open play in the second half, the only goal was the equalizer that came from Moreno's head in the 85th minute to give the Crew a deserved split of the points.
Crew head coach Sigi Schmid made a change in goal, handing Will Hesmer his first start in a Crew uniform and dropping Andy Gruenebaum to the bench. Revolution manager Steve Nicol replaced U.S. national team absentees Taylor Twellman, Steve Ralston and Michael Parkhurst with Cristman, Wells Thompson and Avery John.
The first half invited attacking play as neither team closed down space and allowed attacking play to blossom.
Columbus claimed the lead against the run of play in the ninth minute. Grabavoy picked up the ball in midfield and played a ball over the top of the New England defense to Rogers. Rogers outpaced the Revolution defense and slotted home past Matt Reis to tally his first career MLS goal and give the visitors a surprising lead.
The lead was to last only four minutes as Cristman engineered a quick reply for the home side. Miscommunication on a defensive throw-in led to a bounce onto the foot of Cristman. The striker got around the edge of the Crew defense and shot towards goal. The ball took a deflection off Crew defender Chad Marshall past Hesmer and into the Columbus net to tie the score.
Noonan gave his side the lead in the 17th minute with his first goal of the season. Andy Dorman collected the ball on the Revolution side of the halfway line and floated a ball into the run of Noonan. Noonan curled his effort around Hesmer and snuck it just inside the post to give the Revolution the lead and give Noonan his first goal in regular season play since Sept. 9, 2006.
Crew defender Tim Ward stepped into the fray and nearly found the equalizer in the 23rd minute, but his effort narrowly missed the top of the crossbar.
Cristman extended the Revolution lead in the 32nd minute as Noonan turned provider. Noonan latched on to another ball over the top and stopped just inside the area to play a square ball to Cristman. Given the chance, Cristman took it with aplomb, sidefooting it with his right peg into the upper right corner of the goal.
Shalrie Joseph came close to getting his name on the board in the 43rd minute as he connected with a square ball but sent his effort wide left of Hesmer's goal.
But it was Columbus who struck again just before halftime. The ball was played in from the wide right channel by Moreno and taken down gracefully by Grabavoy in the middle. Grabavoy flicked the ball over to Barros Schelotto, who firmly stuck past Reis to cut the deficit to one.
Cristman could have had his hat trick in the 52nd minute. Noonan passed the ball with the back of his heel across the top of the Crew penalty area into the run of Cristman. Cristman took the ball after a touch and hit it firmly, but Hesmer punched the ball away from danger.
The Crew were inches away from putting the ball in the net in the 68th minute. Barros Schelotto curled in a cross to the far post for Marcos Gonzalez. Gonzalez got his body to the ball and nearly had the ball across the line before Reis caught it.
Then Columbus again came close as substitute Eddie Gaven forced Reis to tip around the post after 72 minutes with a curling effort from 25 yards as the Crew continued to mount the pressure.
Cristman replied for the Revolution by turning a diving header off the crossbar in the 74th minute after a free kick was swung in from outside the left corner of the area.
New England had a goal waved off in the 76th minute. Joseph played the ball over the top and Noonan beat the offside trap to only see the whistle blow as he collided with Hesmer and slotted the ball into the net.
The missed opportunity would prove critical, as Barros Schelotto provided Moreno with the equalizer in the 85th minute. Rogers distributed the ball from the middle out to the open Argentinean on the right wing. The curling cross found the diving head of Moreno, who finished in the lower left hand corner to give the visitors a deserved point.
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
