MLS Columbus Crew SC

Crew Hosts Pivotal Game 2 vs. K.C. on Saturday

Published on November 4, 2008 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Columbus Crew SC News Release


COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Supporters' Shield-winning Columbus Crew returns to Crew Stadium this Saturday, Nov. 8, to play the second leg of its MLS Cup Playoff Eastern Conference Semifinal series vs. the Kansas City Wizards, after a dramatic 1-1 draw at K.C. last Saturday (Nov. 1) in the series' first leg at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. Tickets are still available (please see item below for details).

Saturday's big match kicks off at 7:30 p.m. (ET) and will be televised live locally on ONN, with Dwight Burgess and Bill McDermott calling all the action and Katie Witham reporting from the sidelines, as well as nationally on HDNet. The game can be heard in English on News/Talk 610 WTVN and on-line at theCrew.com and MLSNet.com, with Neil Sika and John Bluem behind the microphone, as well as in Spanish on La Que Buena 1550-AM, with Eduardo Carvacho and Benny Pietrangelo on the call.

In last Saturday's (Nov. 1) match at Kansas City, neither side could find the back of the net in the opening half. However, the Wizards would take the lead in the 53rd minute, when midfielder Davy Arnaud passed the ball to the left flank to forward Claudio Lopez. Arnaud then raced up the middle of the field to get on the end of Lopez's cross and dove forward to head the ball high into the goal. The Wizards were then left a man short in the 75th minute when Herculez Gomez was sent off for a foul on Gino Padula. Gomez will be forced to sit out Game 2 while serving a mandatory one-game suspension. Rookie forward Steven Lenhart, who came on as a substitute for Eddie Gaven in the 83rd minute, proved to be in the right place at the right time as he capitalized off a deflected long-range shot by defender Danny O'Rourke. The ball bounced off Wizards defender Tyson Wahl, and was then controlled off the midsection of Crew forward Alejandro Moreno. Lenhart quickly found the ball at his feet and volleyed a shot past Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman and into the back of the net.

The series now comes to Columbus knotted at a goal apiece, as the Crew look to continue its season-long success at Crew Stadium, where it went 11-2-2. In this Saturday's match, each side will be looking to gain the aggregate goal advantage before the end of regulation. The Crew ranked among MLS' best teams in goals scored at home during the regular season, as its total of 30 tied for third best in the league. Meanwhile, Kansas City found itself in the middle of the pack for goals scored on the road, as it finished tied for 10th with 15 goals away from home this season.

Should the two teams end regulation time in Saturday's match still tied on total goals for the series, two additional overtime halves of 15 minutes apiece will be played. If a definitive result has still not been determined after overtime, a penalty shootout will decide the winner. If the Crew advances, it will face the winner of the Chicago-New England series in the Eastern Conference Championship at Crew Stadium on Thursday, Nov 13 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

In the three-game regular-season series between the two teams, the Crew earned a 2-0-1 record (1-0-1 at home) against the Wizards, with eight goals for and four goals against. In their first match, on May 3, the Crew got first-half goals from Adam Moffat and Robbie Rogers on its way to a 2-1 victory over the Wizards at Crew Stadium. On June 14 in Kansas City, the Crew grabbed an early lead thanks to a Chad Marshall header in the third minute, and then doubled its lead in the 20th minute, thanks to Alejandro Moreno, who then scored again in the 66th minute to give Columbus a 3-0 victory. In their third and final match, at Crew Stadium on July 17, Columbus found itself down early thanks to a Frankie Hejduk own goal and a score by former OSU Buckeye Roger Espinoza, but stormed back with the match's next three goals - from Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Moreno and Marshall - to take a one goal lead into the half. Late in the proceedings, Josh Wolff was finally able to find the goal the Wizards were looking for, as he equalized in the 75th minute to send both sides away from the match with a point apiece.

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