THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Gino Padula scored a first-half goal as the depleted Columbus Crew clinched first place in the Eastern Conference with a 1-0 victory over the New England Revolution on Saturday night.
The victory gave the reigning MLS Cup champion Crew (13-5-10) 49 points -- tops in the league -- and an insurmountable eight-point lead over second-place Chicago with two matches remaining.
Padula scored in the 36th minute after he launched a 35-yard free kick that skipped through a series of players before it lodged itself into the back of the net.
Columbus played without Chad Marshall due to injury, while Frankie Hejduk, Robbie Rogers and Alejandro Moreno all had World Cup qualifier commitments.
New England (10-10-8) remained in the eighth and final playoff spot with 38 points and also has two matches remaining. The Revolution are two points ahead of D.C. United, FC Dallas and Toronto FC for eighth place.
The Revolution tested the Crew early with a pair of chances that goalkeeper Will Hemser mishandled before his defenders cleared them out of danger.
Shortly after that, and even with league MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto on the bench, the Crew outplayed the Revolution for the remainder of the match.
After Revolution keeper Matt Reis denied a quality chance by Steve Lenhart in the 24th minute, he was helpless to stop Padula's long-distance lob 12 minutes later.
Columbus played the final 25 minutes with 10 men after Emmanuel Ekpo was given a straight red card for elbowing Kevin Alston on a 50-50 ball near midfield.
Hemser then made his best save of the match in the 68th minute when he parried a hard shot from the right flank by Sainey Nyassi.
Story from: STATS LLC
