Story via Larry Henry, Jr. of MLSNEXTPro.com
Jacen Russell-Rowe’s goalscoring abilities carried Columbus Crew 2 to the Central Division title and No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, and the in-form forward continued his stellar 2022 year by leading Laurent Courtois’ squad into the MLS NEXT Pro Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday.
Russell-Rowe scored a hat trick on Saturday in Crew 2’s convincing 4-1 first-round victory over RNY FC. The stellar individual performance from the Canadian international bumped him up to 24 goals this season.
Russell-Rowe’s perfect day was completed in the 85th minute, as the forward picked up a pass from Coleman Gannon and delivered a right-footed shot into the bottom-right corner.
Crew 2 will host TFC II in the Eastern Conference Final on Sunday, October 2nd at 5:00 p.m. inside Historic Crew Stadium.
