It took a home match for Columbus Crew SC to snap a three-game losing streak and remedy a scoring drought against the New England Revolution on Saturday evening. The 2-2 tie saw a score by forward Gyasi Zardes and a New England own goal.
Entering the match, the Black & Gold had scored just one goal in their past three matches and had been shutout in their last two.
“I think it’s positive,” Crew SC Head Coach Gregg Berhalter said. “What I saw was the urgency. What I saw was some good soccer at times, some really good soccer. We were able to play through them very effectively. I think our positioning, our spacing was much better than it’s been in the last couple of weeks.”
A little bit of luck was responsible for Crew SC’s much needed, first goal of the day in the ninth minute. Midfielder Federico Higuain crossed the ball to the left side and the foot of attacker Niko Hansen, who took a shot that ricocheted off New England defender Andrew Farrell and into the net.
Hansen made his first start of the season on Saturday, replacing midfielder Cristian Martinez. Hansen was inserted into the starting XI by Berhalter to provide a scoring spark. He did just that.
“You’re going to look to make some changes,” Berhalter said. “I think you have the right to make some changes if you lose three games in a row. And we wanted to give an impulse to the team. We thought Niko’s speed and strength would help the group, his directness would help the group. And I think he did a good job. We were pleased with his performance.”
Revolution forward Teal Bunbury tied it for the away side just five minutes later. Bunbury placed a shot perfectly towards the far post past Crew SC goalkeeper Zack Steffen in the 14th minute to bring the tally to 1-1. Cristian Penilla and Wilfred Zahibo were credited with assists.
A usual suspect struck just before halftime for Columbus. Zardes won a battle for the ball near the top of the box in the 43rd minute and slotted the ball into the back of the net to give the Black & Gold a 2-1 lead. Zardes is near the top of the league in scoring with five goals. Higuain and Santos assisted on the play.
Another New England equalizer occurred two minutes later in stoppage time. Penilla scored off a right-footed volley after a pass by midfielder Juan Agudelo to bring the score to 2-2.
The Black & Gold’s revitalized scoring output was powered by shots. Eighteen total shots came for Columbus compared to New England’s nine. However, the Revs recorded more shots on target (5-4). Berhalter saw a change in his team after being shutout on the road last weekend.
“I think tonight went a long way,” Berhalter said. “When you see the intensity that we played with, I called it urgency. When you see the urgency that we played with, I didn’t necessarily see that in the D.C. [United] game. For whatever reason, you could say the turf or the weather, whatever it was, I didn’t see that urgency. Today, it looked like a team that wanted to win the soccer game.”
The Black & Gold haven’t sustained a home loss to New England in nearly five years. In the time since Oct. 27, 2013, Crew SC owns a record of 4-0-1 with a 9-3 scoring differential against the Revs. The all-time record between the longtime foes now stands at 35-23-13 in favor of Columbus.
Columbus’ record now stands at 3-3-2 with 11 points, while New England’s stands at 3-2-2 (11 points).
Crew SC will remain at home to take on the San Jose Earthquakes next Saturday, April 28th for a 7:30 p.m. ET start.
