FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - It took Eddie Johnson's third goal of the game to finally cap a seven-goal thriller and give the Kansas City Wizards a 4-3 victory against the New England Revolution on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium, putting an end to the home side's seven-game unbeaten run.
Johnson scored twice in the first half, then completed his hat trick in the 82nd minute, as Kansas City ran its unbeaten streak in Foxborough to nine games.
New England earned an early two-goal lead through Steve Ralston (11th minute) and Taylor Twellman (23rd minute) before Kansas City replied with three goals before halftime from Davy Arnaud (25th minute) and Johnson (26th minute and 38th minute).
Parity was restored briefly in the 69th minute from the penalty spot as Shalrie Joseph tallied after Jack Jewsbury handled Joseph's cross, but substitute Carlos Marinelli played Johnson in for his third, and match-winning, goal.
It was no more than Kansas City deserved for an intrepid, attacking approach that saw the visitors control much of the possession and carve out the lion's share of the attacking chances.
Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo handed goalkeeper Kevin Hartman his 251st career start, breaking Tony Meola's MLS record. In front him, Onalfo started a makeshift backline of Jack Jewsbury, Aaron Hohlbein, Tyson Wahl and Michael Harrington to compensate for injuries to Nick Garcia (abdominal strain), Jose Burciaga (shoulder sprain) and Jimmy Conrad (hamstring strain). New England manager Steve Nicol made one change to last week's lineup, inserting the fully-fit Pat Noonan in place of Adam Cristman.
After having the run of the play in the first 10 minutes, Kansas City was hit on the counterattack for the game's first goal in the 11th minute. Joseph played a ball to Andy Dorman, who had acres of space to roam to the edge of the area. Upon entering the penalty area, Dorman dished off to Steve Ralston running down the right side of the box. Ralston's strike brought a diving save from Hartman, but the rebound fell back to Ralston. The U.S. international gleefully smashed home from eight yards to open the scoring.
Johnson earned Kansas City a chance to reply eight minutes later after winning a free kick 20 yards from goal. The Wizards tried an elaborately constructed free kick, but Jewsbury's strike was too slow to develop and was blocked before it reached the net.
New England started a three-goal flurry within three minutes with another strike on the counteron 23 minutes. Taylor Twellman was well covered on a long ball out of the back, but conjured a shot from 24 yards despite the presence of a couple of Wizards defenders. His strike deflected off of the leg of Aaron Hohlbein and wrong-footed Hartman on its way to the net to give New England a two-goal cushion.
But the lead lasted just two minutes as Arnaud snuck through for his second goal of the season. The heavy lifting was done by Sasha Victorine, as his diagonal cross from the left flank split Joseph and James Riley and found Arnaud's run. He made no mistake to slot home past Reis.
Kansas City got back on level terms in the 26th minute. Riley was again the culprit as his poor ball out of the back was right to the feet of Jewsbury. His ball over the top found the feet of Eddie Johnson, who turned and fired past Reis for his fourth goal of the season.
The three goals in three minutes was a minute shy of the MLS record, set in 2000 when the Miami Fusion and MetroStars contrived to score three goals in a two-minute span, and in 2003 when D.C. United scored three goals in two minutes of stoppage time against the Revolution at Gillette Stadium. It was the 10th time in MLS history three goals were scored in a three-minute gap.
Johnson hit for his second tally of the contest in the 38th minute. After another Revolution giveaway in midfield, the ball was funneled to Johnson on the left side of the penalty area. Johnson cut past Jay Heaps and raced across the top of the box before striking home from 14 yards past Reis on the near post.
New England had a couple of chances to equalize before the break. Dorman missed just wide from a Khano Smith cross on 40 minutes, while Twellman hit the side netting from another Smith cross in the 44th minute.
Neither team made any changes at halftime, although both teams appeared to settle down somewhat from the frenetic first-half pace.
Wizards forward Ryan Pore went close in the 51st minute after taking the ball from a sliding Riley, but Reis parried the shot away.
Ralston nearly had his second in the 60th minute as his free kick, earned after Jewsbury hauled down Joseph 22 yards from goal, hit the far right side of the crossbar. Heaps had a chance to head home from six yards, but his header went over the bar.
Johnson nearly had his hat trick in the 64th minute as he was played in on goal from a deep ball in midfield, but Reis came out of the penalty area quickly to clear the ball away from danger.
The Revolution pulled level when Jewsbury was whistled for a penalty kick in the 69th minute after a Joseph cross hit his extended hand. Joseph then stepped up and hammered the penalty kick home past Hartman to level the score at 3-3.
But Johnson restored the Wizards' lead in the 82nd minute. Substitute Carlos Marinelli, influential in the offensive half upon his insertion in the 61st minute, played Johnson through with a looping ball through the defense. Johnson calmly rounded Matt Reis and rolled the ball into the empty net to give Kansas City its final margin of victory.
The result was in doubt as New England poured forward, with Twellman's 84th minute left-footed strike drawing the best out of Hartman, but Kansas City held firm in the defensive third to earn its first win since May 5, while sending the Revolution to their first defeat since their opening day reverse at Chicago.
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
