SANDY, Utah – It only took 15 minutes for Connor Maloney to make an impact in his first Major League Soccer start as a member of Columbus Crew SC in Saturday’s road match against Real Salt Lake.
The rookie midfielder found a ball off a deflection in the box early in the match and sent it towards Crew SC scoring leader Ola Kamara who took care of the rest and put the Black & Gold up 1-0 early in the match that ended in a 2-2 draw.
Maloney also filled the stat sheet during his 82 minutes on the pitch. The midfielder recorded 24 successful passes on the opposition’s half and headed a clearance, won a tackle and made an interception.
Maloney was selected in the Third Round of the 2017 MLS SuperDraft. The Penn State product only made one appearance prior to Saturday night’s match, appearing as a substitution against the Houston Dynamo on March 11.
Saturday night also saw milestone appearances for a pair of Crew SC veterans. Midfielder Ethan Finlay started the match and notched his 150th career appearance while wearing the Black & Gold in the MLS.
Midfielder Hector Jimenez entered the match as a substitution for Maloney in the 82nd minute and made his 125th career MLS appearance.
Finlay played all 90 minutes in the match. He won two take ons, had a pair of shots off goal and even hit the post at one point, nearly scoring.
In his limited time on the pitch, Jimenez tallied a shot, six successful passes on the opposition's half and headed two clearances.
Crew SC will next travel to face the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday, August 5 at 10:30 p.m. ET before returning home to Columbus on Saturday, August 12 for a match against the Chicago
