Cristman Explodes Against Galaxy

Striker Nets Both Goals in 2-1 Win

July 5, 2008

By Sean Donahue

Adam Cristman supplied the fireworks, scoring his fifth and sixth goals of the season to lead the first place Revolution to a 2-1 victory over the Western Conference leading Los Angeles Galaxy on the nation’s Independence Day.

After taking a 2-0 first half lead, the Revs survived a late offensive push by the Galaxy, and a lucky goal by David Beckham, to escape Los Angeles with three points and further extend their lead at the top of the standings.

Adam Cristman

Adam Cristman scored both of the Revs' goals Friday night. (CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com).

Sainey Nyassi had the first chance of the match in the 9th minute, when a pass from Kheli Dube played him through on goal. Nyassi, however, couldn't get his shot around a charging Steve Cronin.

Cristman gave the Revs the lead in the 33rd minute. Shalrie Joseph got on the end of a Mauricio Castro corner kick and put a powerful header on frame. Cronin made the save, but gave up a rebound, and Cristman was the first to react, tapping the ball into the net for the 1-0 advantage.

Cristman made it 2-0 four minutes later. The second year striker rose above the Galaxy to defense to head a Steve Ralston corner kick into the far side of the net for his second goal of the night.

The Revs nearly made it 3-0 going into halftime with the last kick of the half. A long past from Michael Parkhurst fell for Cristman in the box. After drawing Cronin out, Cristman sent a square pass to Castro. With defenders scrambling to cover the open net, Castro sent a shot in, only to see it hit off the near post and come back into play. The ball came back to him and he chipped it to the far post only to see it cleared off the line by Alvaro Pires.

The Galaxy had a chance in the 51st minute, when Beckham got free on the right flank. The English international sent in a nice cross that Nyassi failed to get to. It fell to a wide open Mike Randolph, who took a second before unleashing a shot on frame. Nyassi managed to recover and bloke the shot.

The team had another chance six minutes later with Edson Buddle getting the ball just yards from the goal. Buddle got off the shot, but Reis was well positioned to make the save.

Seconds later it was the Revs with a chance, with Castro chipping a shot over the head of Cronin. The ball fell to Dube, who was just a couple feet from goal. Cronin had come off his line and managed to block Dube's shot.

Beckham made it 2-1 in the 66th minute after Landon Donovan ran all the way from his own half into the final third of the field. Donovan sent the ball to Chris Klein on the right flank where he sent in a cross to Buddle. Buddle laid it off to Donovan, who saw his pass deflected by Joseph and fall to Beckham. The Galaxy captain unleashed a shot from the top of the box that Reis looked well positioned to save. The shot however, deflected off Jay Heaps and beat Reis for Beckham's fifth goal of the season.

The Revs were fortunate in the 77th minute, when Beckham picked up the ball on the right flank and sent it to Buddle at the top of the box. The 27-year-old striker hammered a shot towards goal, but saw it bounce of the crossbar before being caught by Reis.

The match was the final MLS game for the Revolution until August 9. The Revs next match is the US Open Cup Quarterfinal against Crystal Palace Baltimore on Tuesday and then the team kicks off its participation in the 2008 SuperLiga with a match on August 13 against Mexico's Santos Laguna.

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