Columbus Crew SC visited the New England Revolution on Saturday in a tense Eastern Conference matchup at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. It took just eight minutes for the visitors to jump in front via Ethan Finlay's cool finish off Justin Meram's goal-line cross. Almost exactly 40 minutes later, Federico Higuain sealed the road points with a clinical finish inside the Revolution penalty area.
"It's gratifying to go on the road and to get a result like this one," Sporting Director and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter said. "There are times this year that we've gone on the road and played this way but haven't gotten the result. It's big to have a strong performance like this and to take all three points."
Finlay — scoring in his second consecutive match — opened the scoring against the run of play. New England won a pair of corners and launched two shots before Finlay's finish on Crew SC's first attempt of the match. Hector Jimenez fed a penetrating Meram toward the endline, and he seared a screaming ball across the 6-yard box. Finlay needed to only touch the ball into the back of New England's net for his fourth of the season.
The single-goal advantage led Crew SC into halftime, despite several attempts just missing the mark. A quadruple-shot sequence just before the break featured blasts by Mohammed Saeid, Ola Kamara and Finlay before Kamara tried a second time with an overhead kick over the bar.
New England pressured from the opening whistle of the second half, winning a corner and a wild shot before Higuain doubled Crew SC's lead. Kamara won the ball through a sliding tackle in his offensive half before breaking into the box and slotting a ball to an on-rushing Higuain at the penalty spot. Higuain took a touch and rifled a right-footed finish through the middle of the goal.
With nearly 40 minutes to go, Columbus' backline of Michael Parkhurst, Nicolai Naess, Harrison Afful and Jimenez bend but didn't break under New England's pressure. The home side launched 12 shots after Crew SC's second goal, but couldn't connect. The closest call came in the 74th minute when Kei Kamara shot from point-blank range, but Parkhurst volleyed a goal-line clearance away from his empty net.
