Crew escape Kansas City with draw

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- It's been four years since the Columbus Crew have been in the MLS Cup Playoffs. But as the other opening games in the conference semifinal series were playing out, they knew what was coming Saturday night against the Kansas City Wizards.

"We knew it wasn't going to be pretty," said Crew defender Frankie Hejduk. "That it's going to be a tight game."

Into stoppage time, the Crew were down a goal. But rookie Steven Lenhart pounded home a shot for the tying goal in a 1-1 draw and showed the kind of resiliency the Crew have exhibited all season in winning the Supporters' Shield.

"It's been a while since our club has been in the playoffs, so there's always a little bit of apprehension and tentativeness," said Crew coach Sigi Schmid. "I think to get the first game under our belt knowing we didn't play our best game and being able to come out on equal footing at the end of the day, I think that was very important for our team."

It wasn't exactly a rope of a pass that Lenhart looped home for the tying goal. It was a long-range shot from Danny O'Rourke, a deflection, and then a bounce off the chest of fellow forward Alejandro Moreno.

"It was just a long ball that kind of went over my head and bounced back to me," Lenhart said.

Said Schmid: "Steve's a big body. We figured he could get in the box and get on the end of some crosses. The team sometimes calls him 'magnet' because the ball just seems to find him."

Both teams certainly had their chances, before a diving header from Davy Arnaud put the Wizards ahead in the 53rd minute. But the Crew's spirits of the team were definitely lifted when the Wizards went a man down after Wizards midfielder Herculez Gomez was sent off in the 75th minute.

"When they got the red card, it changed the whole dynamics of the game," said Hejduk. "We had a never-say-die attitude but that's not a shock. We've been doing it all year and we knew we were going to come back."

The Crew were able to put an extra man forward, and fresh off the bench, Lenhart got the right bounce to tie the match.

"We never, ever, at any point in the game, did we doubt that we were going to come back," Hejduk said.

Still, there was room for doubts. Guillermo Barros Schelotto saw an astounding effort come off the crossbar, and Hejduk also hit the bar, after the ball was tipped onto it by Kansas City goalkeeper Kevin Hartman.

"I thought we had a little more of the game and we were creating some chances, but we weren't putting the final touches on it," Schmid said. "I think the next game, at home on a bigger field, I think that will make it a little better for us."

Lenhart has learned quickly what it takes in the playoffs in his first season.

"A tie is good," he said.