Once again the Fire hit for an early goal. C.J. Brown found Chris Armas in the area, and he somehow eluded a host of Crew defenders to spin away to the endline before knocking a ball back for Chris Rolfe at the top of the goal area, and he had the simplest of finishes past 'keeper Andy Gruenebaum, making his first MLS start.
The Crew leveled the score midway through the half. Joseph Ngwenya put in a low cross from the right flank, and Jason Garey trapped the ball yards from the byeline. He laid back a quick pass to Eddie Gaven, who blasted the ball home from the corner of the goal area to tie the game (26).
With the game heading into first-half injury time, Ngwenya again played provider. This time he whipped in a hard, low cross across the top of the goal area and Garey came rushing in to volley the ball first-time past Matt Pickens.
The Crew put the game away with two goals in seven minutes late in the second half. In the 76th minute, Ricardo Virtuoso was the beneficiary of a Gaven tackle, taking over and cruising into the area before hitting a low angled shot that settled inside Pickens' left-hand post.
Then Virtuoso put in a long cross from the left corner and Gaven deflected it goalward, only for Pickens to make a diving save. But Ngwenya was first to it and tapped in for a deserved goal to round out the scoreline.
Crew head coach Sigi Schmid made three changes to the team that defeated FC Dallas. Ned Grabavoy made his first start since June 10, coming in for Brandon Moss in the center of midfield, while Marc Burch came in wide on the left, in place of Ricardo Virtuoso. There was also a change in goal as Andy Gruenebaum became the fifth goalkeeper to start for the Crew this season, making his first MLS start in place of Bill Gaudette.
Here's Schmid's team (4-2-3-1): Andy Gruenebaum - Rusty Pierce, Marcos Gonzalez (Ezra Hendrickson 20), Chad Marshall, Ritchie Kotschau (Ricardo Virtuoso 39) - Ned Grabavoy, Duncan Oughton - Joseph Ngwenya (Chris Leitch 90), Eddie Gaven, Marc Burch - Jason Garey. [Substitutes Not Used: Ryan Coiner, Bill Gaudette, Jose Retiz, Jacob Thomas]
"We know we are out of the playoffs but we want to end the season on a good note. We went a goal down, but we showed a little character coming back, scoring two goals before the end of the first half and another two in the second half," said Joseph Ngwenya. "It was a great game for us."
TEAM NEWS
A couple of weeks ago, the Crew were on pace for the ignominious honor of being the lowest-scoring team in MLS history. Now, with 30 goals in 31 games, a goal against New England and they will better the Real Salt Lake record of a year ago.
"It sounded like a broken record, our mantra throughout the season is we've had so many injuries and we haven't had a chance for the guys to work together," Schmid said. "And now what's happened over the last six or seven weeks is we've had pretty much a constant group out there, so Jason Garey and [Eddie] Gaven and [Joseph] Ngwenya and Ricardo [Virtuoso] have been able to start playing together. Now you see the cohesion and now it's starting to pay off."
The late run has also given the Crew braintrust a fleeting glimpse of what might have been - and still how close they were to getting into the postseason.
"We had a couple of unlucky results in the second half of the season - our game in New York we got robbed, New England we should have came away with a tie, our game at home against Chicago, we had five bad minutes," Schmid said. "If those results would had gone our way we would be right where we want to be right now. It bodes well for the future, but I'm very pleased with what we're doing offensively right now."
Andy Gruenebaum allowed an early goal in his first MLS start, but rebounded to keep a clean sheet the rest of the way. He had just five minutes of previous league experience, coming on as a late-game substitute on May 20 against D.C. United.
"I thought Andy did well. You never know how he's going to react when they got that really early goal, that goal where we defended poorly against [Chris] Armas and let [Chris] Rolfe get open in the middle," said Schmid. "But Andy held his composure, made a big save and did what he needed to do, coming out on a cross or two. He's got a good calm demeanor and I think that showed through tonight."
Said Gruenebaum: "I was a little bit nervous when the game started, but once that whistle blew it was just a lot of fun. I went out and tried to have fun, and it was fun watching the guys in front of me working so hard. I expected to see some shots and I'm sure they knew it was my first start and I'm sure they wanted to pressure us a little bit but the guys in front of me worked so hard."
