CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Crew traveled to downtown Cleveland Tuesday night and came away with a 2-1 victory over the Cleveland City Stars of the USL Second Division in an exhibition match before a crowd of 2,014 at Krenzler Stadium.
A goal by Jason Garey in the 8th minute off a Ricardo Virtuoso assist drew first blood for the Crew, which built on the early lead just 12 minutes later on an impressive left-footed blast from Andrew Peterson that made it 2-0. Peterson opened the season with Cleveland, before signing with the Crew in June.
Cleveland got off to a quick start in the second half, as just one minute after the restart Cleveland's Adam Moffat fed Ian Leibbrandt for the City Stars' lone goal of the night.
The Crew returns to MLS action on Saturday in Chicago, when it will take on the Eastern Conference-rival Fire at TOYOTA Park. Columbus (6-5-7, 25 pts.) has won five times in its last seven league games and is fourth in the Eastern Conference standings, just two points behind third-place New York and five points out of first.
Saturday's match, which kicks off at 8:30 p.m. (ET), will be televised nationally on HDNet and can also be heard live locally in English on The Brew @ 105.7 and on-line on TheCrew.com and MLSNet.com.
Columbus Crew at Cleveland City Stars (USL 2nd Division) - Exhibition
July 31, 2007 - Krenzler Stadium (Cleveland, Ohio)
Scoring Summary
CLB - Jason Garey (Ricardo Virtuoso) 8th min.
CLB - Andrew Peterson 20th min.
CLE - Ian Leibbrandt (Adam Moffat) 47th min.
Columbus Crew - Andy Gruenebaum (Bill Gaudette 46), Tim Ward, Jed Zayner, Ryan Junge, Andrew Peterson (Chad Marshall 78), Eddie Gaven (Andre Pecheco 46), Duncan Oughton (Ned Grabavoy 67), Ricardo Virtuoso, Kei Kamara (Danny Szetela 67), Jason Garey, Andy Herron (Robbie Rogers 74)
Substitutes Not Used: None
Cleveland City Stars - Caleb Patterson (Hunter Gilstrap 46), Jeremy Tolleson, Skelly Kellar (Ian Leibbrandt 46, Glen Duerr 85), Brandon Moncrief, Angelo Ladera, Chris Lemons, Stephen Rigby (Luke Williams 46), Anthony Stovall (Jack Cummings 69), Dana McGregor, Stephen Cruickshank, Spencer Lappin (Adam Moffat 46)
Substitutes Not Used: Nigel Codrington
Disciplinary Summary
CLE - Spencer Lappin (caution) 23rd min.
CLE - Spencer Lappin (2nd caution/ejection) 24th min.
CLE - Stephen Cruickshank (caution) 39th min.
CLB - Jed Zayner (caution) 54th min.
CLB - Danny Szetela (caution) 75th min.
CLB - Ned Grabavoy (caution) 90th+ min.
