Heaps of trouble for Crew

New England blanks Columbus, nears MLS Cup berth

Jay Heaps gets entangled with Columbus' Freddy Garcia, a play that ultimately led to his ejection. AP

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Few things can boost a team's confidence more than consecutive shutouts. Ask New England Revolution coach Steve Nicol.

"The longer it goes the stronger we get," Nicol said after his team beat the Columbus Crew 1-0 Wednesday night in Game 2 of their MLS semifinal series. "Everybody has the belief that one of the boys is going to get there before the opposition, and that is a great thing to have.

"We put our heart and soul out there tonight," he said. "People were blocking shots, sticking their heads out. You name it, that's what you saw."

Jay Heaps scored in the third minute and the Revolution held off the Crew to take a 4-1 lead in the first-to-five-points series. New England needs only to tie Game 3 on Saturday to advance to the MLS Cup on Oct. 20 at its home in Foxboro, Mass.

The Crew need to win Saturday to even the series 4-4, then must win a 20-minute "mini-game" to advance to play either Los Angeles or Colorado in the finals.

The Revolution played one man short after Heaps was ejected in the 39th minute for head-butting Freddy Garcia at midfield. Heaps, who also got a yellow card one minute earlier, will miss Game 3.

Wolde Harris' header off a corner kick bounced 6 yards in front of the goal and Heaps ran onto it and used his chest to hit it past Jon Busch inside the far post. Brian Kamler assisted.

"I saw Wolde go up on a great challenge and head it down," Heaps said. "I missed one the other night, so it felt good to finish it."

Heap's goal was the first allowed by either team in 211 minutes after two scoreless ties. Columbus and New England tied 0-0 in Game 1 on Sunday and in their last regular-season matchup on Aug. 31.

New England goalkeeper Adin Brown made five saves, including blocking Brian McBride's point-blank shot in the 70th minute, for his seventh shutout in the last nine games.

"We worked our butts off defending down a guy for 55 minutes of the game," Brown said. "It's that kind of work ethic and heart that has gotten us to where we are."

The Revolution packed in as many as seven players on defense as the Crew made runs into the New England penalty box. Columbus outshot the Revolution 20-5 and led 6-2 in shots on goal. The Revolution took just one shot in the second half.

The game featured 35 fouls, and five cards were issued.

Columbus' best scoring chance came in the 63rd minute when Duncan Oughton lifted a pass to McBride, who took a hard shot that Brown stretched to push past the far post. Garcia also had several late chances to score.

"You have to give New England some credit," Crew coach Greg Andrulis said. "We are a pretty potent offensive team and, for them to shut us down two games in a row, they are doing something right."

Andrulis says he is confident the Crew can score.

"We have scored a lot of goals. I don't know if anybody has shut us out two games in a row this season," Andrulis said. "I think we saved all our goals for when it counts on Saturday. We are going to go up there and get the job done."

The Revolution are 8-1-2 in their last 11 games.

Taylor Twellman, the league's leading scorer in the regular season, left the game in the 75th minute with a slightly sprained right knee.

The Revolution played without defender Daouda Kante, who received two yellow cards Sunday. The Crew were without injured midfielder Edson Buddle.

New England reached the semifinals for the first time in its seven seasons by beating Chicago 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Columbus, in its fourth semifinal, eliminated San Jose 6-0.

Scoring Summary:
NE --Heaps (Harris, Kamler) 3

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION --Adin Brown, Jay Heaps, Carlos Llamosa, Rusty Pierce (Winston Griffiths 66), Joe Franchino, Steve Ralston, Leo Cullen, Braeden Cloutier, Brian Kamler, Wolde Harris, Taylor Twellman (Ian Fuller 75)
TOTAL SHOTS: 5 (Heaps 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 2 (Cloutier 1, Heaps 1); FOULS: 16 (Harris 3); OFFSIDE: 1; CORNER KICKS: 1; SAVES: Brown 5; CAUTIONS: Heaps 38; EJECTIONS: Heaps 39;

COLUMBUS CREW --Jon Busch, Brian Dunseth, Chad McCarty (Dante Washington 46), Eric Denton, Daniel Torres, Brian Maisonneuve (John Wilmar Perez 62), Duncan Oughton, Freddy Garcia, Brian West (Kyle Martino 46), Brian McBride, Jeff Cunningham
TOTAL SHOTS: 20 (Garcia 4, McBride 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 6 (Garcia 2); FOULS: 19 (Dunseth 4); OFFSIDE: 1; CORNER KICKS: 11; SAVES: Busch 1; CAUTIONS: Garcia 40, Dunseth 79, Oughton 91+; EJECTIONS: none;

Referee: Gerry Corrie; Assistant Referees: Craig Lowry, Richard Eddy
Attendance: 10,245; Weather: Fair, 58 degrees

 

Related information

Stories

SI's Grant Wahl: New wave MLS announces year-end award finalists Official: MLS to add two teams within a year

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video