A battle of unbeatens commenced at Snapdragon Stadium with the Columbus Crew traveling west to take on newly minted MLS expansion side San Diego FC. Though things have gone easy for the Black & Gold in MLS play, the true test was stopping Anders Dreyer from continuing to get his name on the scoresheet. A test of who would blink first, and get their first loss of the young 2025 MLS season.

Early on in the first half, Mohamed Farsi found himself inside of the penalty area and on the end of a cross, but the attempt was easily claimed by goalkeeper C.J. dos Santos.

San Diego was first to succumb the pressure and allowed an opening goal in the 13th minute as Max Arfsten from atop of the 18-yard box sends a pass wide to his left to DeJuan Jones. After a couple of touches, Jones returned favor to Arfsten who made a run into the penalty area and slotted the pass into the back of the net with his left foot.

Later on, Farsi seemed to have doubled the Crew’s lead, but a foul by Arfsten in the buildup negated the goal, keeping the score 0-1 and San Diego within striking distance of an equalizer.

In the 30th minute, Jacen Russell-Rowe received a pass from Dylan Chambost up over the top and had a run towards goal. His shot — which was struck with pace — was saved by Dos Santos and out for a corner kick.

Nearing the end of the first half, San Diego decided to take control, with Anders Dreyer slipping behind the backline and towards goal, with his shot being saved by Patrick Schulte from point blank range. On the ensuing corner kick, Paddy McNair found the equalizer on a cross from Dreyer, but was soon flagged for being in an offside position.

It was all San Diego to end the half, but Columbus held their own to keep their lead heading into the break.

Things would go from decent to bad for Columbus in the second half when Malte Amundsen was shown a straight red card for pulling down Dreyer who was in on goal outside of the penalty area.

The home side would finally find their first goal at home through a header from Onni Valakari off of a corner kick in the 69th minute.

San Diego would continue to pour on the attack on undermanned Columbus and forcing them to stay in a low block.

The Crew’s best chance to take the lead came in the 74th minute when Diego Rossi picked up the ball at midfield and started his run towards goal. A small cutback inside the penalty area freed up a right-footed shot that was sent over the crossbar.

Columbus was able to weather the storm with 10-men, collecting a point on what seemed to be a sure thing loss after the Amundsen red card, with the final score being 1-1.

10-men Crew

The Crew started the match great, but later were victim to a Malte Amundsen red card in the second half. With that, Amundsen is set to miss the next match for the Black & Gold.

Patrick Schulte performance

Patrick Schulte was called upon multiple times throughout the match to make saves. The USMNT goalkeeper had his best save late in the first half to deny Anders Dreyer San Diego’s first goal at Snapdragon Stadium.

What’s next?

The Columbus Crew are back at home to host New York City FC. Kickoff from Lower.com Field is set for 7:30 p.m. EDT. You can watch the match on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.