Cucho Hernandez had a goal and an assist and Patrick Schulte made two saves as the host Columbus Crew cruised to a 3-0 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Saturday night.
Jacen Russell-Rowe and Aidan Morris also scored for defending MLS Cup champion Columbus (3-0-1, 10 points), which is tied with Inter Miami (3-1-1, 10 points) for first place in the Eastern Conference.
Schulte picked up his second shutout of the season and the ninth of his career. The win extended the Crew’s MLS home unbeaten streak to 18 matches (15-0-3).
The loss snapped a six-match regular-season road unbeaten streak (4-0-2) for New York (2-1-1, seven points) that started following a 4-1 loss at Philadelphia on Sept. 3.
Columbus, playing its fifth match in a 15-day span due to two mid-week CONCACAF Champions Cup round-of-16 matches with the Houston Dynamo, showed no signs of fatigue in the first half.
The Crew took a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute when Yaw Yeboah raced down the left side of the pitch and sent a crossing pass into the middle of the box, where Hernandez roofed a right-footed shot over Red Bulls goalkeeper Carlos Coronel for his third goal of the season.
New York got its first shot on goal in the 42nd minute, a soft looping right-footed attempt by Emil Forsberg from outside the middle of the box that Schulte easily caught.
Hernandez displayed his passing skills in the 56th minute with a perfect through pass from midfield to Russell-Rowe in stride racing down the right wing. Russell-Rowe then booted a right-footed shot inside the far left corner of the net for his second goal of the season.
Ten minutes later, Morris made it 3-0. Diego Rossi sent a corner kick to Sean Zawadzki, who was stationed by the near post. Zawadzki flicked a header back to Morris, and Morris put home a right-footed shot for his first goal of the campaign.
–Field Level Media