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Hesmer, Crew battle Rapids to scoreless tie

Jul 5, 2007 - 5:39 AM COMMERCE CITY, Colorado (Ticker) -- Will Hesmer posted his second straight shutout as to the Columbus Crew played to a 0-0 draw with the Colorado Rapids on Wednesday night.

Hesmer has been a big part of the Crew's current five-game unbeaten streak, posting a 3-0-2 record since taking over as the starting goalkeeper.

Hesmer, who has three shutouts in his career, made just two saves in the contests - both in the first half. The 25-year-old stopped Nicolas Hernandez's shot in the 29th minute and denied Terry Cooke in the 36th minute.

"It's the guys in front of me," Hesmer said. "Collectively, 11 are defending really well and are making things pretty easy on me."

Bouna Coundoul recorded his fifth shutout of the season for the Rapids, who have failed to win in their last seven contests.

Coundoul, who has seven career shutouts, made the most impressive save of the match in the 85th minute when Jacob Thomas tried to sneak one past on the short side but Coundoul made the save and fought off Thomas for the rebound.

"Defensively we played well tonight," Coundoul said. "We are disappointed with the tie but it is better than losing. We need to forget about this one and get ready for Sunday."

The Crew was held scoreless for the first time since May 19 - a 4-0 loss to the New York Red Bulls.

"I don't think that it was a particularly good game for us," Columbus coach Sigi Schmid said. "We knew that Colorado was going to play with a lot of energy. It was one of those games where as a coach you say, we'll take the point."

Colorado outshot Columbus, 10-8, but failed to put a shot on goal in the second half.

"We created a couple chances, we just didn't finish them," Rapids coach Fernando Clavijo said. "But we have another game on Sunday. Hopefully we will get three points and then we will have 18 days to think about it."