Major League Soccer

Paule's hat trick vaults Columbus past Galaxy 3-1 and into first place.

By Ed Draper
SoccerTimes

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Saturday, September 4, 2004) -- Midfielder Ross Paule continued his torrid scoring, becoming only the fourth player in Columbus Crew history to record a hat trick, lifting his club over the Los Angeles Galaxy 3-1 and into first place in Major League Soccer's Eastern Division for the first time this season.

With Paule finding net for the fourth straight outing, the Crew (8-5-10, 34 points) is unbeaten in a club-record 11 games, going 4-0-7. In its previous best, Columbus went without a loss for nine straight games with a 7-0-2 mark.

"Well, it's a third of the regular season that we haven't felt or tasted defeat, and the guys in there deserve a tremendous amount of credit," Columbus coach Greg Andrulis said. "They're playing at a pretty high level; we haven't had a big dip that ends up happening every once in awhile in the season."

Before 17,928 at Crew Stadium, Paule notched two first-half right-foot strikes, after good work from striker Edson Buddle on both occasions, before grabbing a third with a penalty kick in the 68th minute. Paule, who scored 24 goals in his first seven MLS season, but now has seven this year, last had multiple goals in a game when he scored a pair for the Colorado Rapids to defeat the Kansas City Wizards 2-1 on May 31, 1998.

"I think (Paule's) in a good zone right now," Andrulis said. "He's playing at a high level, he's healthy. Tonight, he played a couple different spots in the midfield and was solid from beginning to end.

"Of all the players, the last one we expected to score a hat trick was Ross Paule," he added, jesting.

Paule, 28, is the first Crew player to score three times in a game since Dante Washington completed the feat versus Tampa Bay on June 16, 2001. Stern John and Brian Maisonneuve are the others to register hat tricks for Columbus.

"It was great feeling. . . I've never had one before and the ball just fell for me today," Paule said. "I was playing in a more advanced midfield position and that's why I appeared in the box more often,"

Paule had to fight to take the penalty for his third goal. "Jeff (Cunningham) tried to grab the ball, but I wasn't going to let anyone take it," Paule said, laughing.

The match started slowly with neither team managing to maintain decent possession in the opening five minutes. Then, the Crew, with the platform of a solid defensive opening from a back three of Nelson Akwari, Robin Fraser and Chad Marshall, started to take territorial ascendancy. Midfield men Simon Elliot and Paule were the chief reason for this change. Both of the veterans, ever on the look out for the ball, began pulling the strings from the heart of the pitch.

Still, despite the increase in the home team's possession, the men in yellow rarely looked like threatening Kevin Hartman in the Galaxy goal. Too often, the Crew worked good possession into the attacking third before a poor final ball or cross brought the move to a swift end.

Indeed, it was the visitors who had the first meaningful strike of the afternoon -- forward Jovan Kirovski latching onto a loose ball at the edge of the penalty box in the 19th minute and hitting a skimming right-footer that Crew goalkeeper Jon Busch grasped to his chest. Kirovski was undoubtedly the biggest threat for the Galaxy (9-7-8, 35) in the first 30 minutes, taking four shots.

Then, in the 26th minute, for once, the Crew put together a penetrative attack and it brought the game's opening goal. Midfielder Simon Elliott sent a looping cross into the penalty area from the left side and newly-acquired midfielder Tony Sanneh rose highest at the far post to head the ball toward the goal. Buddle and Hartman reached the ball at the same time on the six-yard line and, for a moment, the ball seemed stuck between them, but then, as it squirted free, Buddle was able to flick it with his right foot and send the ball rolling across the face of goal. Paule arrived right on cue and lashed the ball into the net for a 1-0 lead.

Five minutes later, Columbus defender Chris Wingert almost extended that lead -- driving down the left side of the penalty area before hitting a searing left-footer against the near post.

The Crew wasn't to be denied for long though with Paule getting on the score sheet again in the 42nd minute. Buddel, twisting and turning in the left side of the area, hit a sharp shot that Hartman did well so save with his feet. The danger had not been averted yet; Paule, his timing impeccable once more, followed up and neatly side-footed the ball into the right of the net for a 2-0 advantage.

Joseph Ngwenya put the Galaxy firmly back in contention at 2-1 in first-half stoppage time. Midfielder Andreas Herzog curled in a tantalizing left-footed shot from the right side. Ngwenya beat Busch to the ball, diving and glancing a header toward the far post. The striker was back on his feet within seconds and his determination paid off as the ball bounced of the post and back into his path. From two yards and with Busch laying prone on the turf, Ngwenya's fourth goal of the season was a formality.

Unsurprisingly, the Galaxy, buoyed by Ngwenya's tally, started the second half on the front foot and spent most of the opening 15 minutes in the Crew half. The visitors failed to create any meaningful chances in this period, though, and the Crew went closest to altering the score-line through a viciously curling 25-yard right-foot shot from Elliot that whooshed past Hartman's right post in the 56th minute.

Cunningham, who came on for the largely ineffective midfielder Kyle Martino at halftime, also went close with two fierce right foot drives. In the first instance, Cunningham unleashed a fierce right-footed drive that Hartman could only spoon into the night air in the 62nd minute. Buddle raced in to meet the dropping ball but, on the stretch , could only head it over the bar.

Cunningham's next shot, a minute later, was from a little farther out and this time Hartman managed to hold on , clasping the ball to his chest.

In the 68th minute, Wingert, raced to the goal line before sending a cross to the far post. Michael Ritch, who had replaced Buddle three minutes earlier, fought hard at the far post before heading back across the six-yard line. L.A. defender Arturo Torres intercepted the dangerous header before it could reach a pack of Crew players lurking behind him but the referee Mark Geiger judged he handled the ball, giving the Crew a penalty kick.

"We didn't think it was a penalty, we think it hit his shoulder, not his arm, and hopefully the replay will prove that," Galaxy coach Steve Sampson said.

Televsision replays supported the Galaxy protests that the ball caught Torres' shoulder and not his lower arm. Paule calmly slotted the penalty into the right corner of the goal to make it 3-1.

Referee: Mark Geiger. Referee's assistants: Craig Lowry, Richard Eddy. Attendance: 17,928 at Columbus (Ohio) Crew Stadium. Time of game: 1:52. Weather: Partly cloudy, 83 degrees.