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Rapids aim to halt skid against Impact

Jun 28, 2013 - 9:08 PM Montreal, QC (Sports Network) - The Colorado Rapids will attempt to get back on the winning track on Saturday when the club travels to Saputo Stadium to face the Eastern Conference leading Montreal Impact.

Colorado enters the match struggling mightily, riding a five-match winless run across all competitions.

Last time out, the Rapids were thoroughly outplayed by a far superior Portland Timbers side in a 3-0 defeat at Jeld-Wen Field on June 23.

Portland seized control of the match early on as the home side struck 12 minutes in when Rodney Wallace broke free down the left flank off a restart and fired a cross into the box for Frederic Piquionne, whose header beat Rapids goalkeeper Clint Irwin.

Portland struck again right before halftime when Wallace came down with a goal kick, held the ball at the left corner of the box and found a charging Will Johnson. The Timbers captain took one flick to himself to get past the Colorado defense and then launched a left-footed shot past Irwin to the far corner.

The Timbers put the match away six minutes from time when Johnson got on the end of a cross from Piquionne and ripped it into the open goal for his second tally of the match.

"It's okay sometimes to not play well, but to still get results, which is something we did at times earlier in the year," Rapids captain Drew Moor said. "We didn't always play well, but we got results and I think that's what it was about today. Yeah, we played well at times, but at the end of the day, we probably just got beat by a team that was better today."

"We can't be giving up three goals on three shots," Moor continued. "It's down to the entire team as a unit. As a leader of the defense, I'm frustrated with it, but we've got to try and put it behind us because it doesn't get any easier from here for us."

Montreal, meanwhile, had last weekend off and will aim to extend its lead atop the Eastern Conference standings following a 2-0 win over the Houston Dynamo on June 19.

The Impact grabbed the lead against Houston just 14 minutes in when a through ball from Patrice Bernier beat the Dynamo's offside trap and found Felipe racing into the area, and he finished by poking the ball between Houston goalkeeper Tally Hall's legs.

The Impact then doubled the lead in the 32nd minute. Corey Ashe weighed his back pass from midfield wrong and it turned into an assist for Marco Di Vaio, who raced to the ball and then in on goal before lobbing it over the head of Hall.

"We started the game like fireworks, we broke them down in the first half, and even though we respect them, we tried to get four, five, even six," Impact head coach Marco Schallibaum said. "We didn't get them, and it was a tough game to manage at 2-0."

In the only meeting between the clubs, Colorado collected goals from Jeff Larentowicz, Drew Moor and Jaime Castrillon in a 3-2 win over Montreal on May 26, 2012.