The New England Revolution erased an early deficit before coming back to defeat the Columbus Crew 3-1 on Wednesday evening at Columbus Crew Stadium, getting two goals from Pat Noonan.
Edson Buddle gave the Crew a perfect start, but the Revolution came storming back with three unanswered goals, including a killer strike in first-half stoppage time. Clint Dempsey was involved in every goal as his header was sandwiched between assists on the two Noonan goals.
Buddle got the Crew off to a glorious beginning as he finished a sitter in the fourth minute. Cornell Glen chased down a deflected cross and then cut the ball back to the top of the penalty area to Simon Elliott. He hit a weak left footed shot, but it snuck through right to Buddle, and easily turned and beat Matt Reis from close range for his fifth goal of the season.
Glen again worked the left side of the pitch to put the Crew in good scoring position in the 12th minute. Elliott freed Glen with an excellent pass behind the Revolution defense, and he again cut the ball back across the goal, but this time the ball went to Mario Rodriguez. The Guatemalan international's shot beat Reis, but Revolution defender Joe Franchino blocked his certain goal.
The Revolution were yet again beat by Glen down the left flank just four minutes later. With his handy footwork and pace, Glen raced by Jay Heaps to provide a superb near post cross to Buddle -- only for the shot to come back off the left post.
The visitors made their first prominent attempt on goal in the 20th minute. Stephen Herdsman did well to beat Noonan to a cross at the near post, but his poor clearance went only as far as Clint Dempsey. But Dempsey's shot dribbled right to Crew goalkeeper Bill Gaudette for an easy save.
The same New England pair leveled the match four minutes later. Noonan headed a Steve Ralston cross into the path of Dempsey, and he carried to byeline to the right of goal. He drove a low cross through the six-yard box as Noonan snuck to the back post unmarked, and tapped in Dempsey's cross for his sixth goal of the campaign. It was the first time this season at Columbus Crew Stadium that both sides scored.
Columbus missed out on a superb chance to take the lead before the break, but Buddle was unable to finish a breakaway in the 40th minute. The Crew forward swiped the ball from Michael Parkhurst and rounded Reis, only to see a hustling Franchino clear his off-balance shot off the goal line. It was Franchino's second goalmouth save of the half.
The Revolution would not miss out on their chance to go into halftime with the lead. From a corner kick, Jose Cancela found Dempsey who had beaten Herdsman to the near post. He dove forward to power a header under the crossbar and beat Gaudette to give the Revolution the lead at the break.
The Crew came out looking to equalize right out of the break, and won a series of corner kicks to start the half, but could get not get a shot on target. The closest chance to scoring for the Crew was a header by Frankie Hejduk in the 53rd minute, but he screwed his clear header wide of the goal from just inside the penalty spot.
New England was not as wasteful with their corner kicks as the doubled the lead by way of one in the 68th minute. Substitute Andy Dorman swung the corner, which was flicked to the far post by Dempsey who beat Herdsman in the air. It fell right to Noonan, who took a quick touch before slipping it past Gaudette to leave the Crew in a deep hole.
Crew coach Greg Andrulis tried to swing the momentum following Noonan's second goal with the rapid introduction of Marcus Storey, John Wolyniec, and David Testo as his three substitutes. But the changes made no change in the Crew's inability to create scoring chances in the second half, the home side eventually falling for the third time in their last four games.
The Crew take the weekend off before returning to action when they face the Kansas City Wizards on the road next Wednesday. New England returns home where they will play host to the MetroStars on Saturday.
MLSnet.com Man of the Match: Clint Dempsey (New England Revolution)
John Kuhn is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
New England Revolution (8-1-4) vs. Columbus Crew (4-8-1)
June 22, 2005 -- Columbus Crew Stadium
Scoring Summary:
CLB -- Edson Buddle 5 (Simon Elliott 3, Cornell Glen 2) 4
NE -- Pat Noonan 6 (Clint Dempsey 5) 24
NE -- Clint Dempsey 6 (Jose Cancela 3) 47+
NE -- Pat Noonan 7 (Clint Dempsey 6, Andy Dorman 2) 68
New England Revolution -- Matt Reis, Joe Franchino, Jay Heaps, Michael Parkhurst, Jose Cancela (Andy Dorman 65), Clint Dempsey, Shalrie Joseph, Marshall Leonard (James Riley 79), Steve Ralston, Pat Noonan, Connally Edozien (Khano Smith 53).
Substitutes Not Used: Cassio, Doug Warren.
TOTAL SHOTS: 14 (Clint Dempsey 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 9 (Clint Dempsey 3); FOULS: 15 (Clint Dempsey 4); OFFSIDES: 3 (Khano Smith 2); CORNER KICKS: 12 (Jose Cancela 8); SAVES: 4 (Matt Reis 2)
Columbus Crew -- Bill Gaudette, Frankie Hejduk, Robin Fraser, Chad Marshall, Stephen Herdsman (David Testo 79), Mario Rodriguez (Marcus Storey 69), Simon Elliott, Kyle Martino (John Wolyniec 72), Chris Wingert, Edson Buddle, Cornell Glen.
Substitutes Not Used: Knox Cameron, Ryan Kelly, Domenic Mediate, Mark Schulte, Andrew Terris, Stephen Armstrong.
TOTAL SHOTS: 15 (Edson Buddle 8); SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (Edson Buddle 4); FOULS: 14 (Chad Marshall 4); OFFSIDES: 9 (Cornell Glen 3); CORNER KICKS: 7 (Simon Elliott 3, Mario Rodriguez 3); SAVES: 6 (Bill Gaudette 6)
Misconduct Summary:
NE -- Clint Dempsey (caution; Professional Foul) 9
CLB -- Chris Wingert (caution; Professional Foul) 9
NE -- Jay Heaps (caution; Professional Foul) 27
NE -- Marshall Leonard (caution; Professional Foul) 56
NE -- Khano Smith (caution; Professional Foul) 72
Referee: Kevin Terry
Referee's Assistants: Nathan Clement; Adam Wienckowski
4th Official: Brent Sorg
Attendance:
Time of Game: 1:50
Weather: Sunny-and-79-degrees
All statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial.
