COLUMBUS, Ohio — Conor Casey scored in the 82nd minute, giving the Colorado Rapids a point on the road while extending the Columbus Crew’s winless start with a 1-1 tie Saturday night.
Casey’s goal wiped out the advantage Guillermo Barros Schelotto’s 12-yard strike gave the Crew in the 41st minute.
Pablo Mastroeni fed Casey from midfield before Casey barreled over defender Danny O’Rourke and beat goalkeeper William Hesmer with a left-footed shot that slipped inside the right post for the Rapids (2-1-1).
With the tie, the Crew (0-2-3) added to its league-record worst start to a season by a defending Major League Soccer Cup champion. Columbus has surrendered leads late in both of its home matches this year.
Steven Lenhart barely missed regaining the lead for the Crew when his quick strike from 20 yards scraped the outside of the netting in stoppage time.
Moments later, Lenhart’s header inside the 6-yard box flew just high.
Rapids coach Gary Smith made only one change from the last MLS match by inserting Ty Harden for Kosuke Kimura on the backline. However, Harden left with a possible right hamstring injury and was replaced by Scott Palguta in the 17th minute.
Colorado played on the road for the third time in four matches, just as the Crew did when it lost at Chivas USA last Sunday. The Rapids defeated Los Angeles at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., in their previous league outing and also downed the Galaxy on Tuesday in a U.S. Open Cup play-in match. Columbus, meanwhile, extended its home unbeaten streak to 13 (9-0-4).
It began with a 2-1 win over Colorado last June 28.
The only other time Columbus started the season without a win in five games was an 0-3-2 mark in 2004 before going on to win the Supporters’ Shield, given to the MLS team with the best regular-season record.
Colorado had a prime opportunity in the 51st minute when Omar Cummings forced a turnover from Eric Brunner at the top of the penalty area. Cummings got free and sent a ball across the goal area to a wide-open Casey, only to see the pass go behind his teammate.
The Crew responded in the 57th with an Eddie Gaven drive from 25 yards, but goalkeeper Preston Burpo made a diving save to his right as the ball headed for the left netting.
The stop proved critical, and the Rapids were able to take a valuable point on the road.
Colorado concludes its three-game road swing with a trip to Houston next Sunday to play the Dynamo at Robertson Stadium.
Colorado 0 1 — 1
Columbus 1 0 — 1
First half — 1, Columbus, Barros Schelotto 3 (Ekpo, Padula), 41st minute.
Second half — 2, Colorado, Casey 4 (Mastroeni), 82nd.
Yellow cards — Gibbs, Colorado, 26th; Ekpo, Columbus, 29th; Palguta, Colorado, 68th; Burpo, Colorado, 94th+.
Referee — Edvin Jurisevic. Assistant Referees — Carey E. Rockwell, Robert Fereday. 4th Official—Alex Prus. A — 7,465 (22,500).
Lineups: Colorado — Preston Burpo, Cory Gibbs, Ty Harden (Scott Palguta, 18th), Jordan Harvey, Ugo Ihemelu, Mehdi Ballouchy, Colin Clark, Nick LaBrocca (Jacob Peterson, 76th), Pablo Mastroeni, Conor Casey (Greg Dalby, 86th), Omar Cummings.
Columbus — William Hesmer, Eric Brunner, Danny O’Rourke, Gino Padula, Jed Zayner (Steven Lenhart, 87th), Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Brian Carroll, Emmanuel Ekpo, Eddie Gaven, Adam Moffat (Duncan Oughton, 67th), Alejandro Moreno.
