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Crew rally to draw with Fire

Jul 6, 2008 - 3:41 AM COLUMBUS, Ohio (Ticker) -- The Columbus Crew continued their recent hot streak by overcoming a two-goal deficit to rally to a 2-2 tie with the Chicago Fire on Saturday.

Steven Lenhart scored his second goal of the season from the penalty area in the 87th minute to level the contest for Columbus (8-4-3), which extended its unbeaten streak to five games.

"I just made a run for the far post," Lenhart said. "(Schelotto) made a great pass and I was at the right spot and was able to put it in. The ball was about as good as it could have been. It obviously was a big goal for us to be able to get the tie."

With an assist from Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Emmanuel Ekpo put the Crew on the board in the 36th minute prior to Lenhart's tally.

"It was some good teamwork to get the goal," Ekpo said. "Schelotto made a great play to get the ball and he gave it to me and I was able to get a foot on it and put it in the goal. I think it is big goal for us because it put us on the board and gave us some confidence."

Chris Rolfe paced the Fire with a goal and an assist.

In the eighth minute, Justin Mapp's shot hit the left post and bounced to Rolfe, who cleaned up the rebound and drilled the ball past diving Columbus goalkeeper Will Hesmer to open the scoring.

"It always feels good to get a goal - especially in front of my friends and family here at home," Rolfe said. "It was a big goal for us because it got us on the board early, and it hopefully picked up the guys' spirit. It was disappointing to give up a late goal, but getting a point on the road is always a good thing and hopefully we can build on this performance and go from here."

"We had a very good start to the game," Chicago coach Denis Hamlett said. "We got two goals early 25 minutes into it and I felt pretty good. I think (the Crew) scoring their first goal was key tonight. It gave them confidence and momentum and seemed to jump start them."

Chicago (6-5-3) doubled the advantage in the 25th minute when Calen Carr scored from the right penalty area after accepting feeds from Gonzalo Segares and Rolfe.

The effort was appreciated by Robert Warzycha, who served as Columbus' acting coach while Sigi Schmid attended his daughter's wedding.

"You wish you had a team like this that fights until the end," Warzycha said. "I was not worried when they scored two goals because I felt that we could score goals too, and we did. Chicago came out flying and they were pretty good. I think in the second half we showed that we could score and stay with them."