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'Quakes eye return to winning ways against Crew

May 18, 2012 - 9:20 PM Santa Clara, CA (Sports Network) - The San Jose Earthquakes will attempt to get back to winning ways when the club welcomes the Columbus Crew to Buck Shaw Stadium on Saturday.

San Jose has gone back-to-back games without a win for the first time this season, and the Earthquakes will be facing a Columbus side that snapped a five-game winless streak last time out with a 2-1 win over FC Dallas.

The 'Quakes needed a late goal from Alan Gordon to salvage a 1-1 draw with Chivas USA in their last match, but Gordon felt the result was positive because it shows the resiliency of the club.

"We showed some resiliency today," Gordon said. "We are gaining something out of every match it seems. As long as we aren't losing too many of these close games, you will see us improve each and every week. These are games at home in which you need to come away with points. We didn't get the win, but to come back like that late and go home with a point can build momentum for us moving forward."

San Jose forward Steven Lenhart will be anxious to add to his goal tally against his former side, where he scored 14 goals in three full seasons.

Lenhart has already netted nine goals with three assists in less than a season and a half with San Jose, including four goals in the last four games.

Along with Lenhart, Columbus will have its hands full with Chris Wondolowski, who leads MLS with 11 goals.

Crew head coach Robert Warzycha knows his defense must be up to the task in order to contain San Jose's strikers, but defender Josh Williams believes that he and fellow defender Eric Gehrig are prepared.

"It's about believing in yourself," Williams said. "I believe myself and (Eric) Gehrig can compete with anybody in the league. Just doing our homework and playing intense, knocking them, and making sure it's not easy for them (will be the key to beating San Jose)."

Columbus is off to one of the worst starts in club history, but after claiming its first win since March 31 last time out, Warzycha's side will be trying to build on that result on Saturday.

The club snapped a 263-minute scoreless drought with a pair of goals in the second half, including the equalizer from Justin Meram.

"We needed it. It has been over 200 minutes without a goal and we finally got the monkey off our shoulders and we were able to get the first goal. Once you get the first one the others will come," Meram said.

The Crew hopes that the scoring will continue on Saturday against San Jose, otherwise its tough to see the club leaving California with any points.