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Double Donovan Two goals by teenager lift San Jose past Columbus
Updated: Sunday September 23, 2001 10:16 AM
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Landon Donovan scored two first-half goals and Manny Lagos added another score as the San Jose Earthquakes beat the Columbus Crew 3-1 on Saturday night in the opening round of the MLS playoffs. Ronnie Ekelund lofted a pass inside the penalty area to Donovan, who scored past charging goalkeeper Tom Presthus in the fifth minute. Dovovan gave San Jose a 3-0 lead just before halftime when he collected an errant clearing attempt by Tenywa Bonseu that bounced off John Harkes' back and scored from 19 yards. "I am obviously thrilled with the win," said Quakes coach Frank Yallop. "I thought that we needed to get the early goal and we did. We caught them a little off guard at the start. However, it was a very close game and Columbus had a number of chances tonight, but they did not put any away. "I think that we showed our battling qualities late in the game. They threw everything at us, but our team refused to concede a second goal." The Earthquakes' stingy defense, which allowed a league low 30 goals this season, pushed Crew players off the ball and repeatedly fouled them just outside the penalty area in the first half. San Jose was whistled for 14 fouls in the first half, while Columbus was whistled for six in the first half.
Columbus, which managed just one shot in the first half, outshot the Earthquakes 13-2 in the second half. Robert Warzycha scored on a penalty kick in the 54th minute for Columbus. The free kick was awarded after defender Jimmy Conrad took Brian Maisonneuve down in the penalty box. The Crew challenged goalkeeper Joe Cannon several times late, including on a low shot by Warzycha that Cannon pushed wide near the post. Cannon finished with four saves. Lagos scored in the 31st minute for San Jose. Junior Agogo passed from inside the penalty area to Lagos, who scored on a low shot inside the far post. Lagos was permitted to play in the game after his red-card suspension was delayed until next season by the league. Lagos would have served his suspension during the regular season had the remaining games not been canceled after the terrorist attacks. The loss, in front of a crowd of 20,883, snapped Columbus' 11-match home unbeaten streak. The second game of the best-of-three series is Wednesday night in San Jose. "It was a tale of two halves, kind of a shocker the way we started the game, but at least we were able to gather ourselves and play with a little character in the second half," said Crew coach Greg Andrulis. "Give San Jose credit, they worked their rear ends off for 90 minutes. No question they deserved the win tonight. We will be ready for Wednesday. "I still love my team." SummaryScoring: SJ --Donovan (Dayak, Ekelund) 5
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES--Joe Cannon, Wade Barrett, Jeff Agoos, Troy Dayak, Jimmy Conrad, Ian Russell (Ramiro Corrales 72), Richard Mulrooney, Ronnie Ekelund, Manny Lagos (Zak Ibsen 89), Junior Agogo (Ronald Cerritos 70), Landon Donovan
COLUMBUS CREW--Tom Presthus, Mike Clark, Tenywa Bonseu, Mike Lapper (Ansil Elcock 63), John Harkes (Edson Buddle 76), Brian Maisonneuve, Brian West, John Wilmar Perez, Mike Duhaney (Robert Warzycha 46), Jeff Cunningham, Dante Washington
Referee: Ricardo Salazar; Assistant Referees: Steven Davidson, Chris Strickland
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