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United, Orlando City square off at RFK

May 12, 2015 - 8:13 PM Washington, DC (SportsNetwork.com) - D.C. United will attempt to keep its run of good form going on Wednesday when the club welcomes Orlando City SC to RFK Stadium.

United has been excellent all season, with the exception of a 2-0 loss to rivals New York Red Bulls on March 22. Ben Olsen's club will try to extend its unbeaten streak to eight matches against the struggling expansion side from central Florida.

Last time out, United battled Sporting Kansas City to a 1-1 draw on home soil thanks to dueling first-half tallies from Dom Dwyer and Jairo Arrieta.

The home side opened the scoring three minutes before the intermission as Perry Kitchen got the scoring play started when he sprayed the ball wide to the left for Chris Pontius.

Pontius got to the end line and cut it back to Arrieta, who smashed it past Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia to give the hosts the advantage.

But the lead lasted only three minutes as Roger Espinoza sent a low cross into the penalty area that left Dwyer with plenty of work to finish the play. But he did well to reach back for the ball and get plenty of power on his strike as he ripped it past United goalkeeper Bill Hamid.

"It's a game of two halves and in the first half they looked hungry and surprised us a little bit with their tactics. We prepared for them to be much more aggressive, in their usual manner, but credit to them for slowing the game down and making it tough for us to break them down," said Olsen.

"I think it took a little bit of our energy and hunger away, but a lot of that [their tactics] didn't change in the second half. We just looked more alive in the second half. The running off the ball was much better, our composure and quality of passing was better, just every little aspect got better in the second half. I feel if we are a little sharper in the final third we come away with a win, but they also could have had two or three goals in the first half."

Orlando City, meanwhile, enter Wednesday's clash feeling pretty good about themselves after rallying from a 2-0 deficit to draw the New England Revolution, 2-2, at the Citrus Bowl last week.

The Lions fell behind after 19 minutes when some excellent high pressure caused Orlando midfielder Amobi Okugo to turn the ball over and Charlie Davies pounced on it for his fourth goal in as many games.

The visitors were gifted a second goal in the 71st minute when Rafael Ramos attempted a chest pass back to goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, but it was expertly anticipated and cut out by Kelyn Rowe, who rounded Ricketts and slotted home for a goal in his 100th appearance in a Revolution kit.

Orlando finally pulled one back in the 75th minute to end a lengthy scoreless streak when Ramos atoned for his earlier error by sending a great cross into the box for rookie Cyle Larin to knock home.

As the clock ticked into added time, the Lions came up with a potentially season-changing goal as former Sporting Kansas City man Aurelien Collin, got on the end of a cross from Luke Boden and nodded it past Revs goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth.

"Obviously, we started very apprehensively. We allowed a very good, confident team to dictate the pace of the game, and I thought we played off the back foot and gave them too much respect," said Orlando City head coach Adrian Heath. "But, after the first 20-25 minutes, we got a little bit of a foothold in the game. We pushed more men forward and gave them something to defend. I didn't think we did enough in the first half, but I actually thought the response of the players was magnificent. I don't think they (New England) had another opportunity during the second 45, so obviously we turned the game around in our favor."

This will mark the second meeting of the season between the sides. In the first clash, United claimed a 1-0 win in Florida thanks to a last-gasp winner off the boot of Luis Silva.