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Revs, Crew SC tangle at MAPFRE Stadium

Jun 24, 2015 - 12:05 AM Columbus, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - Two heated Eastern Conference rivals are set to lock horns on Wednesday when the New England Revolution travel to MAPFRE Stadium to battle Columbus Crew SC.

The Revolution will try to get back to winning ways after seeing their modest four-match unbeaten streak come to and end on Sunday with a 2-1 defeat against East leading D.C. United at RFK Stadium.

The Revs found the back of the net after 10 minutes when Teal Bunbury played Lee Nguyen in behind the United defense on the right side of the pitch. Nguyen played it across the face of goal and Charlie Davies was there for an easy-tap in.

United drew level 20 minutes from time when Fabian Espindola played an excellent looping cross into the box and Rolfe was in the perfect spot at the back post to volley it past Revolution goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth with plenty of pace.

The winning tally came nine minutes from time when substitute Steve Neumann hacked down Miguel Aguilar in the box, prompting referee Ismail Elfath to point to the spot.

Chris Rolfe stepped up and blasted it into the bottom right corner, leaving Shuttleworth with no chance for his sixth goal of the season.

Following the goal, Jay Heaps' club sent numbers forward looking for a late equalizer as the fourth official's board showed three minutes of added time, but United held out to claim an important three points.

"Obviously we weren't good with the ball, and I think that's what frustrates me the most. There was no real pressure and we kept giving the ball back, and I don't know where that comes from and that's a mental lapse," Heaps said. "We can keep the ball when we want to keep it, but we didn't, and we weren't diligent enough to get open when our keeper had the ball and the next pass was going to be lumped up the field. I have to go back and look at the film specifically, but overall I was not thrilled with how we played in the second half."

Columbus, meanwhile, returns to the pitch looking to take three points following a 1-1 draw against the Los Angeles Galaxy on June 13.

Crew SC fell behind after 14 minutes when Galaxy defender Robbie Rogers drove into the penalty area on the left side of the pitch and cut to the inside looking for a shooting lane.

Rogers lost the ball in his feet, but Sebastian Lletget was there to blast it past Crew goalkeeper Steve Clark to the near post to put the visitors in front at the break.

But the Crew battled back to equalize in the 66th minute as Ethan Finlay ran in behind the Galaxy defense and played it across to Federico Higuain for an easy tap-in and his fourth goal of the campaign.

"After a sluggish start, we came back into the game. They showed character. It's not easy when you're not having the best night, it's not easy to keep going and improve and get better," said Crew SC head coach Gregg Berhalter. "You can make an excuse, you can mail it in, you can say it's not my day and we didn't do that. Guys hung in there, they kept wanting to get the ball and they kept pushing and we got the goal. I'm proud of them for that."