Rookie Steven Lenhart was known early on as the guy with the blond afro as he became a favorite of the Columbus Crew fans.
He sheared the locks after his first MLS goal in the 88th minute while coming off the bench to help the Crew to a 3-3 tie at Los Angeles on June 21. Now, after another late-game strike he might be referred to as Super Sub.
The Azusa Pacific product knocked in the equalizer in the 87th minute -- 10 minutes after entering the match -- as the Crew rallied for a 2-2 draw against Chicago at Crew Stadium.
"What he does is come in and battle in the box and he gives us another body in the box, which is what I do," forward Alejandro Moreno said. "He gives us a second runner trying to get on the end of things, trying to get on the end of crosses."
The Crew fell behind 2-0 after 25 minutes but got the second goal of the season from Emmanuel Ekpo in the 36th minute on the first of two assists for Guillermo Barros Schelotto.
It was the first time the Crew had been down two goals at home in the first half since Sept. 9, 2006.
"It was not a bad result but when you are playing at home you have to win the games," said Crew assistant coach Robert Warzycha, who subbed for Sigi Schmid while the Crew head coach attended his daughter's wedding in Los Angeles.
Warzycha went to the bench for Lenhart and pulled off defender Andy Iro after seeing the Fire back off its attack.
"By doing that we put more pressure on them," defender Chad Marshall said. "They we're not looking to go forward as much and didn't put as much pressure on us. It was a good tactic. It helped us get the second goal."
After several near misses in the late stages, the Crew finally got the tying score when Lenhart was on the end of a service by Schelotto that bounced off his right shin as he planted for a shot just off the goal. The ball muddled around in front of goalkeeper Jon Busch and might have hit both Fire defender Brandon Prideaux and Crew midfielder Stefani Miglioranzi on the way in as they went to the ground for the ball.
Lenhart isn't sure how he scored.
"I closed my eyes," he said. "No, it was a great ball by Guillermo."
Miglioranzi wasn't sure, either.
"All I saw was the ball go out wide to Guillermo," he said. "I charged into the box and tried to get on the end of it. I made a last-ditch effort to dive for it and it went over my head. When I was on the ground I looked and saw it was in the net. I didn't feel it hit anything. I saw it go in and I was happy and I celebrated with Steve. He made the run to get on the end of it."
The result might have been fair from the standpoint that the Fire didn't do what it needed to do to earn a point on the road -- get the early goals -- and the Crew responded to the support of a season-high crowd at Crew Stadium.
"I wasn't worried," Warzycha said. "Chicago came out flying. The two goals they scored we're pretty good. They scored on the counterattack with (Chris) Rolfe and (Calen) Carr so fast, they did pretty good. I knew we were going to score the goals. In the second half we showed some good soccer.
"After the first goal it was 'Oh, my god. They scored so early and we're going to have to push.' Before you know it the second goal came. After that we pretty much controlled the game. The atmosphere was very good. I wish we have 17,000 every game but I don't think we need to be down 2-0 the first 15 minutes."
What the Crew take away from the match is an understanding that it can't expect to trail by two at home and get a point every time. On the other hand, this is a team that was down a goal at the half at San Jose and won and was twice behind by a pair at LA before taking a point. They are now 2-0-2 in their past four matches while scoring 10 goals
"We showed the fight in this team," Moreno said. "We certainly want to get a better result at home they way were playing. At times we looked sharp."
Craig Merz is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
