The Columbus Crew rolled to a 6-1 home victory over Atlanta United on Saturday night at Lower.com Field and several former MLS NEXT Pro standouts shined bright in Wilfried Nancy’s squad.
Jacen Russell-Rowe, Philip Quinton, and Maxi Arfsten all celebrated their first MLS goals while Mo Farsi registered one assist in the lopsided victory. Russell-Rowe also registered one assist from his attacking position and goalkeeper Patrick Schulte logged 90 minutes in the match.
Following goals from Aidan Morris and Christian Ramirez, Quinton extended the Crew’s lead to 3-0 with a powerful header. Quinton got on the end of Alexandru Matan’s cross and beat Brad Guzan down the middle of his goal.
Farsi and Russell-Rowe connected on the Crew’s fifth goal of the night, as the right wing back delivered a pass into the Atlanta United box. Russell-Rowe did the rest by stroking a right-footed shot into the bottom-left corner of Guzan’s net.
Max Arfsten, who joined the Crew this offseason, replaced Russell-Rowe in the 82nd minute and proceeded to deliver the match's final goal. The 21-year-old gathered Will Sands’ cross into the box before slamming the ball home into the bottom-right corner.
It was a standout performance from several of the Crew’s promising talents, especially with star attacker Lucas Zelarayan away on international duty. The Crew snapped a two-match winless run and moved to fifth place in the Eastern Conference.
Another alumni putting in work tonight was Whitecaps FC's, Simon Becher. The forward scored the game-tying goal for Vancouver in stoppage time to split points vs. Minnesota United FC. Becher scored his first-ever MLS goal in August of last season.
