MLS Roundup: Columbus routs Montreal, Minnesota rallies to tie Vancouver
New York City 2, New York 0
HARRISON, N.J. (AP) — Ben Sweat scored his first MLS goal and assisted on Jack Harrison's goal as New York City FC beat the New York Red Bulls 2-0 on Saturday in the Hudson River Derby.
NYC (9-5-3) won just its second game in seven MLS meetings with the Red Bulls (7-8-2).
Harrison opened the scoring with a curling shot in the 33rd minute. Rodney Wallace drew two defenders at the corner of the 18-yard box, found an overlapping Sweat and Harrison one-touched the cross home. Sweat scored in the 65th minute on a header of Alexander Ring's free kick.
Kemar Lawrence's routine shot to Sean Johnson in the 80th minute was the Red Bulls' first shot on goal.
It was Johnson's fourth shutout of the season and NYCFC's first win at Red Bull Arena.
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Atlanta 1, Colorado 0
ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta's high-octane offense pressured, possessed, yet struggled finding the back of the net.
So United kept attacking until it paid off.
Josef Martinez scored in the 67th minute to help expansion United beat the Colorado Rapids 1-0 in front of 44,938 fans at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Atlanta (7-7-3) has won four straight at home after dropping two of its first three.
The highest-scoring team in the MLS struggled to get good looks in the first half. It came out firing in the second.
''They put you under a ton of pressure,'' Rapids goalkeeper Tim Howard said. ''(A lot of) attacking power and they proved to be worth it tonight. They make it tough to get out, they press you well and they take care of the ball.''
Atlanta started the second half with eight shots, all by Martinez and Miguel Almiron. Three of Martinez's seven shots were on target, both season highs.
Despite Atlanta's attack, Howard was an imposing presence in the net, making six saves.
In the 65th minute he made a diving one-handed save on Martinez's bicycle attempt.
''That is why he is the U.S. national team goalkeeper,'' Martinez said. ''He made some big saves tonight. Luckily, I was able to convert one of my chances and that's why the three points stayed at home tonight.''
Martinez beat with a left-footed shot off a cross from Brandon Vasquez for his seventh goal in seven appearances this season. He started after coming off the bench in three games since returning from a thigh injury. The assist was Vasquez's first of the season.
Alex Kann made two saves for his second shutout of the season for Atlanta.
But early on, Colorado had a couple near-goals.
The Rapids (5-10-1) narrowly missed back-to-back chances, first, when Dillon Serna's long-distance shot hit the crossbar, then Joshua Gatt missed consecutive looks on an open breakaway.
Colorado made a mounted effort to equalize in the waning moments.
Alan Gordon's attempt was blocked in the 89th minute. Justt before the final whistle, Kann fell on Bismark Boateng's shot off of a corner kick.
''Everyone was going to challenge for the ball and I was just trying to get myself between the ball and the goal,'' Kann said. ''Thankfully, he headed it towards me, I got my body behind it, and got the rebound. It hit my forearms and then I got on top of it.''
Martino credited a growing home-field advantage as a contributor. The venue has sold out every game this season.
''The team feeds off that energy,'' Martino said about the sold-out stadium. ''I think there's a really good communion between the fan base and the team so we're able to take advantage of that energy.''
Coming off a home loss to Los Angeles on Wednesday night, the Rapids - last in the Western Conference standings - are winless on the road.
Philadelphia 1, D.C. 0
CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — Fabrice ''Fafa'' Picault scored on a dazzling volley and Andre Blake made two spectacular second-half saves in the Philadelphia Union's 1-0 victory over D.C. United on Saturday night.
Picault took a cross from Alejandro Bedoya and sent in a left-footed shot inside the left-hand post past diving goalkeeper Bill Hamid in the 31st minute. Picault has four goals this season.
In the 70th minute, Union's Oguchi Onyewu was called for a handball after the ball went off his shoulder in the penalty box. But Blake preserved Philadelphia's lead and his sixth shutout of the season, diving to the right to stop Lamar Neagle's penalty shot. Blake made another big save in stoppage time, tipping Neagle's wide-open, point-blank header over the bar
United nearly had to play with 10 men in the 74th when Luciano Acosta was initially given a red card, which was then rescinded.
Philadelphia (5-7-4) beat United (5-9-3) for the second time in three meetings this season.
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Columbus 4, Montreal 1
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Federico Higuain scored two more goals and the Columbus Crew beat the Montreal Impact 4-1 on Saturday night.
Higuain has five goals in his last four MLS games. He leads the Crew (8-9-1) with nine.
Higuain scored in the 17th minute on a free kick a few yards outside the box that flicked off the head of a defender in the Montreal wall. He scored on a left-footed shot in the 88th off an assist from Adam Jahn.
The Crew's Kekuta Manneh, who had just entered the match, scored in the 70th on a loose ball in front of the net. Ola Kamara added another goal in the 72nd off a cross from Manneh.
Anthony Jackson-Hamel scored for Montreal (4-8-4) in the 19th.
Columbus won both games against Montreal this season, snapping the Impact's unbeaten streak at four.
Minnesota 2, Vancouver 2
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Francisco Calvo and Jerome Thiesson scored second-half goals and Minnesota United rallied for a 2-2 draw with the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night.
Calvo, unmarked at the back post, headed a long cross from Kevin Molino into the turf and just inside the back post for his first career goal to get United (5-9-3) back into the game five minutes into the second half.
Thiesson tied it with his first MLS goal. Taking a centering pass from Miguel Ibarra, Thiesson, a veteran of the Swiss Super League, sent a hard, curving roller from 20 yards out through the defenders and past a diving David Ousted into the left side of the net in the 63rd minute.
Cristian Techera converted a penalty kick in the 17th minute, and Ton Tchani scored in first-half stoppage time for Vancouver (6-6-3).
After a misplayed backpass, Minnesota keeper Bobby Shuttleworth took out Brek Shea in the box, leading to Techera's penalty kick. Tchani's first goal with the Whitecaps was a driving header off a free kick by Cristian Techera.
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Chicago 4, Orlando City 0
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (AP) — David Accam had his first MLS hat trick and added an assist to help the Chicago Fire beat Orlando City for the first time in league play, 4-0 on Saturday night.
Accam scored twice in the opening eight minutes, the first coming in the third minute off a cross from Matt Polster. In the eighth, he got behind the defense after a long pass from Bastian Schweinsteiger and easily scored.
In the 52nd, Accam picked up an assist with a short pass between two defenders to league scoring leader Nemanja Nikolic, who put the ball in from the right side for his 14th goal.
Playing his third MLS season, Accam completed the hat trick with his 10th goal of the season on a penalty kick in the 63rd after he was taken down in the box by Scott Sutter.
Chicago (10-3-4) extended its unbeaten streak to nine and is undefeated in 12 home matches, including a team-record seven home victories in a row this year. Orlando (7-6-5), which did not have a shot on target, is 1-5-2 on the road.
The Fire's only previous competitive win against Orlando came in the 2015 U.S. Open Cup.
Kansas City 2, Los Angeles 1
CARSON, Calif. (AP) — Ike Opara scored on a bicycle kick in Sporting Kansas City's 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night.
Opara made it 2-0 with his stunning score over charging goalkeeper Clement Diop in the 35th minute after taking a lofted pass from Matt Besler.
Roger Espinoza opened the scoring for Kansas City in the 22nd when Diop's double-fisted punch of Espinoza's long shot ricocheted into the net.
Kansas City, first in the Western Conference at 8-4-6, came in with a league-low 11 goals conceded, and Tim Melia nearly posted a shutout. But in the 77th, Dave Romney headed in a rebound that Melia couldn't quite control as the ball made its way over the line.
The Galaxy (6-6-4) are a league-worst 1-4-3 at home. Their eight-game unbeaten streak in MLS play ended.
San Jose 2, Salt Lake 1
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Danny Hoesen scored his second goal of the season and assisted on Marco Urena's second goal, lifting the San Jose Earthquakes to a 2-1 victory over Real Salt Lake on Saturday night.
Hoesen opened the scoring in the 13th minute, off a long cross from Nick Lima. After touching the ball down, Hoesen gathered it off a defender's foot, stepped inside and unleashed a left footer into the top corner from just off the penalty spot.
Hoesen's long through ball down the right side sent Urena free and from a tight angle he rolled the ball past Nick Rimando in the 68th minute.
San Jose (6-6-5), which has battled injuries and call-ups to score just 16 goals in 16 games, won for just the second time in its last seven games.
Lima picked up two yellow cards in the second half and the Quakes played a man down from the 71st minute.
David Bingham made only one save in each half but was denied his seventh shutout when Jose Hernandez scored his second goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time for Salt Lake (5-11-2).
