Following a weather delay that lasted almost two hours, the stage was set for the Crew to rise to the occasion against Seattle Sounders FC in front of the 20,000-plus fans that entered Crew Stadium on Saturday night.
Coming out of the gates with smothering pressure on the Sounders FC backline, the Crew seemed to be on its way to a third-straight win at home when the Rave Green's Leo Gonzalez was sent off for denying Ryan Finley a scoring chance in the seventh minute. Though a man-down, the Sounders were able to draw a foul in a dangerous are just minutes after the red card.
On the impending restart, Eddie Johnson slipped past the Crew defense to head Mauro Rosales' service into the net past Matt Lampson in the 14th minute.
"[Johnson] is a U.S. Men's National Team player and when you have player of that caliber, he's not going to miss," Lampson said after the match. "He's going to make you pay.
"It was a good ball in from Rosales, unfortunately Johnson lost his mark and buried it."
Tough the Black & Gold would have 76 minutes to find an equalizer against a short-handed Seattle side, the Crew would ultimately rue several squandered chances as the Robert Warzycha's side fell to the visitors, 1-0.
"I think especially with playing a man up the entire game, really we had chances and that’s the hardest thing to stomach, and when you can’t put them away, we gave away three points at home," Lampson said of the defeat.
Added defender Chad Marshall: "It hurts, especially at home. To play pretty much the entire game a man-up and not being able to score, it's frustrating for sure."
The Crew faces a quick turnaround as it will host the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night (7:30 p.m. ET / FOX Sports Ohio).
