HARRISON, N.J. (August 31, 2025) - The New York Red Bulls II (15-5-4, 51 pts) defeat 7-4 Columbus Crew 2 (4-15-4, 17 pts) on Sunday night at MSU Soccer Park.
New York opened the scoring in the 11th minute. Midfielder Rafael Mosquera played a ball wide to midfielder Nehuen Benedetti who struck a right footed shot into the bottom left corner.
Columbus evened the match in the 15th minute. Tristan Brown played a ball across the box to midfielder Brent Adu-Gyamfi who laced a right footed shot into the bottom right corner.
Red Bulls II regained the lead in the 17th minute. Mosquera took a touch inside and flicked a pass wide to Benedetti. The Argentinian midfielder chipped the ball over the keeper into the back of the net.
New York quickly added a third in the 18th minute. Defender Matthew Dos Santos played a ball into the box to forward Roald Mitchell. Mitchell spun passed his defender, faked a shot, and place a finish into the back of the net.
Red Bulls II found a fourth goal in the 42nd minute. Midfielder Nate Worth played a diagonal ball to Mosquera, who took two touches into the box and curled an attempt into the bottom left corner.
New York started the second half strong. In the 47th minute defender Juan Mina crossed a ball into the box that was saved by the Columbus goalkeeper. However, the ball bounced to the feet of Mitchell who tapped in a shot into the back of the net.
Crew 2 scored a second in the 62nd minute. Adu-Gyamfi played a pass towards the endline to midfielder Kevin Gbamble, who laced a shot near post.
Benedetti completed the hat trick in the 67th minute. The midfielder hopped on a deflection inside the box and curled a tight angled shot into the bottom left corner.
Columbus found a third goal in the 72nd minute. Midfielder Trent Brown played a ball across the six-yard box to forward Chase Adams who placed a shot into the middle of the goal.
Crew 2 struck again in the 79th minute. Midfielder Nico Rincon crossed a corner kick into the middle of the six-yard box that was headed home by defender Cesar Ruvalcaba.
New York sealed the deal in the 90th minute. Mosquera played a ball across the box to forward Mijahir Jimenez. Jimenez took a touch and placed his attempt into the bottom left corner of the net.
Benedetti scored his eighth, ninth, and 10th goals of the season for his first career MLS NEXT Pro hat trick.
The Bosques, Argentina native became the third-youngest player to score a hat trick at 20 year and 188 days old.
Benedetti leads the club in scoring this season with 10 and is tied for fifth-most goals scored in MLS NEXT Pro.
Mosquera scored his seventh goal of the season and the 11th of his career.
The Panama international record his eighth, ninth and 10th assists of the season which leads the team.
This was Mosquera’s first career three-assist MLS NEXT Pro match. He joins midfielder Ronald Donkor has the only players in club history tally three assists in a match. Mosquera is also the youngest player to have three assists in a match in club history at 20 years and 99 days old.
Mosquera is tied with Chicago Fire FC II midfielder Claudio Cassano for most assists in MLS NEXT Pro this season.
The midfielder has tallied an assist in four consecutive appearances for Red Bulls II. He also has 11 goal contributions in his last five appearances.
Mosquera tallied his 11th, 12th and 13th career assists. He is tied with midfielder Chris Lema for third-most assists in club history.
Mitchell scored his third and fourth goals of the season and recorded his second career brace for New York and third multi-goal performance.
Jimenez scored his seventh goal of the season.
Worth tallied his second and third assists of the season. He has three assists in his last two appearances.
Worth became the youngest player to record two assists in a match at 18 years and 186 days old.
Dos Santos made his first MLS NEXT Pro start since June 15 against Chattanooga FC.
The defender tallied his second assist of the season.
Defender Juan Gutierrez made his 64th career appearance and is tied with Hassan Ndam for second-most appearances from a defender in franchise history.
Gutierrez made his 55th career start, making him tied with Jordan Scarlett for second-most starts by a defender in club history.
The defender recorded his 4,889th minute played moving past Jordan Scarlett for second-most minutes played by a defender in club history.
Defender Curtis Ofori subbed into the match in the 79th minute to make his 73rd career appearance. This moved him past Evan Louro for most appearances in club history.
Goalkeeper Aidan Stokes recorded his 19th career win moving past AJ Marcucci and Ryan Meara for second-most career wins from a goalkeeper.
Stokes made two saves on the day.
Red Bulls II seven goals scored was the second-most goals in a single-match in club history.
New York earned their ninth home victory of the season which ties them with the 2017 squad for most regular season wins at home in club history.
Red Bulls II secured their 15th win of the season which is the third-most total wins in a season in franchise history.
The 15th win passed the 2023 team for most wins in a single season through MLS NEXT Pro play.
With the victory, New York have won three straight matches against Columbus.
Following Sunday’s match, New York will travel to Wicks Family Field to face Huntsville City FC. Kickoff is set for 8:00 p.m. ET with coverage available on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
