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Moreno's goal gives Crew 1-1 tie with United

Jul 5, 2009 - 3:17 AM COLUMBUS, Ohio (STATS) - Without knowing where the match was played, the comments afterward would have suggested that D.C. United, not Columbus, was the home team for the 1-1 tie Saturday.

The game was at Crew Stadium, where the home side has not lost in more than a year, but the Crew were pleased just to get a point Saturday night after rallying in the second half for a 1-1 tie.

The draw extended Columbus' home unbeaten streak to 17 games.

Alejandro Moreno got the equalizer in the 59th minute after D.C.'s Christian Gomez scored in the first half. United controlled play for long stretches, outshooting the Crew 22-9 and putting 11 shots on goal to Columbus' three.

"It's a disappointing result for us tonight. We felt like we were a much better team. We felt we should have come away with the win," D.C midfielder Ben Olsen said. "Overall, it's a tie on the road but it's a disappointing tie on the road."

Columbus (5-3-8) pulled even after Steven Lenhart, who entered at the start of the second half, flicked a cross from Emmanuel Ekpo to Moreno and he settled the ball before scoring his third goal.

"Obviously, we would have liked to have gotten three points at home - that goes without saying - but it wasn't our best game," Moreno said. We seemed out of synch at times. We were not able to knock the ball around liked we wanted to. They seemed to have a handle on the ball, especially, in the second half and they made it difficult for us.

"Under those circumstances, we'll take the point and we'll stay within touch of them atop the Eastern Conference."

The goal was Moreno's third of the season and first since May 30.

With an aggressive attack, United continually flooded the final third and took advantage of a fortunate bounce to take a 1-0 lead in the 33rd minute on the fourth goal by Gomez.

The score came after Crew goalkeeper William Hesmer stopped a strike by Clyde Simms. The rebound went to the right side where Ange N'Silu put it back in play on the opposite side.

Chris Pontius headed the ball into the goal box and Crew defender Danny O'Rourke tried to clear it with his chest, only to see the ball go to the right foot of Gomez for the easy slot past Hesmer, who had 10 saves.

Hesmer made back-to-back saves on Rodney Wallace in the 51st and 52nd minutes to keep the deficit at one before Moreno's goal.

"I'm not going to say I'm happy but when you look at it honestly they had the better of the play," Hesmer said. "I'd still say a point is a fair result. I don't think they were that overly in charge of the game."

The Crew are 11-0-6 in their last 17 at home, although they had a four-game winning streak at Crew Stadium snapped. They're 5-1-6 in their last 12 overall.

D.C. (5-3-9) is 4-2-7 in the past 13 games and finished a three-game trip at 0-1-2.

Columbus entered the match in second place, a point behind D.C. with a game in hand.

"It's a point on the road but we created so many opportunities and didn't take care of them," Pontius said. "They had one or two and put one away and that was the difference."