Columbus Crew SC battled Vancouver Whitecaps FC in a cross-conference Major League Soccer regular-season match on Saturday at MAPFRE Stadium. Despite an early lead off a Gyasi Zardes goal, Crew SC saw its 14-match unbeaten run snapped via a 2-1 final score.
Zardes opened the scoring in the 29th minute, rebounding a saved shot from Pedro Santos. Santos fired a left-footed shot from outside the box, which was saved by Vancouver goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic. Zardes didn't stop his inbound run, despite Marinovic's save, tapping in the finish for the first-half lead.
Vancouver responded in the second half on a similar play, seeing Brek Shea equalize in the 51st minute.
Vancouver nearly struck again in the 70th minute, this time on a would-be go-ahead goal from Alphonso Davies. However, video review reversed the call to a handling infraction committed by Davies. Just eight minutes later, Kei Kamara headed a goal in for Vancouver putting the Whitecaps up 2-1.
Columbus out-passed and out-possessed with 85 percent accuracy and 66.7 percent possession.
Crew SC will travel to Chicago next week to face Chicago Fire on April 7 at 8:30 p.m. ET.
After two weeks on the road, the Black & Gold return to MAPFRE Stadium to host New England Revolution on April 21 at 7:30 p.m. ET.
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- Forward Gyasi Zardes scored in the 29th minute of todayās match against Vancouver Whitecaps FC to give the Black & Gold the lead 1-0 at the time. He was in position to tap-in a rebound. The goal was Zardesā fourth goal in five MLS regular-season appearances for Columbus Crew SC, and the 38th of his MLS career.
- Hector Jimenez made his 2018 regular-season debut in todayās match. He started at leftback and recorded 63 touches and connected on 48 passes. In 2017, Jimenez made 19 regular-season appearances and 15 starts while providing three assists for the Black & Gold.
- The defeat ended Crew SCās 14-game unbeaten streak that began when the Black & Gold defeated the Chicago Fire on August 12, 2017. Crew SCās record since during that span was 9-0-5. That was the second-longest undefeated streak in Crew SC history, only behind the 19-game unbeaten streak from July 3, 2004 to April 2, 2005, per the Elias Sporting Bureau.
- Crew SCās record on the season moves to 3-1-1. Up next, Crew SC head to Toyota Park for its match on April 7th against the Chicago Fire (8:30 p.m. ET / BCSN2, CW Columbus, Spectrum Sports, CD102.5 FM, English radio stream and Spanish audio broadcast available on ColumbusCrewSC.com.)
