John Tolkin scored his first career goal and Carlos Miguel Coronel made four saves when the New York Red Bulls defeated the Columbus Crew 1-0 in Harrison, N.J., on Wednesday to end a seven-game winless streak.
Tolkin, the 19-year-old homegrown product in his 16th MLS game, put the Red Bulls (6-9-4, 22 points) in the lead in the 33rd minute. New York was 0-4-3 in its previous seven games.
The Crew (6-8-6, 24 points) lost their fifth straight and U.S. national team forward Gyasi Zardes to a possible hamstring injury in the 42nd minute when he attempted to tie the score at 1-1.
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He took a long ball from Aboubacar Keita and dribbled into the box but staring at a 1-on-1 against Coronel, he could not put the ball past the goalkeeper before crumbling to the ground.
Zardes is second on the Crew with four goals in 13 games and was instrumental in the U.S. winning the recent CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Coronel made another key save in the 47th minute on Kevin Molino then made a diving stop on former Red Bulls forward Bradley Wright-Phillips in the 76th minute for his sixth shutout of the season.
New York was frustrated early before Tolkin’s effort.
In the 7th minute, New York was awarded a penalty on a foul by Liam Fraser but a VAR review overturned the call. In the Red Bulls’ previous match, Montreal scored on its third penalty attempt in stoppage time after VAR found encroachment by Coronel.
Tolkin broke through after a pass from Fabio by making a sharp cutback to his left to elude Jonathan Mensah then putting his shot through the legs of Eloy Room.