Red Bull New York II (5-0-2, 17 pts.) defeat Columbus Crew 2 (4-3-1, 14 pts) 4-1, on Sunday night at MSU Soccer Park.
New York opened the scoring in the 19th minute. Forward Dennis Nelich played a ball wide to midfielder Dennis Gjengaar, who played a pass towards the top of the box to midfielder Nate Worth who took a touch towards the endline and laced a right footed shot into the bottom left corner of the net.
Red Bulls II doubled their lead in the 25th minute when midfielder Andy Rojas played a ball forward to Gjengaar on a counterattack that was played wide to Nelich. Nelich cut inside at the top of the box and struck a shot that took a slight deflection off a Columbus defender and into the bottom right corner.
New York found a third goal in the first minute of first half stoppage time. Gjengaar held up a ball at the top of the box and played a wide through ball into the box to Worth who laced a shot that hit the right post and deflected off forward Roald Mitchell into the back of the net.
Columbus got on the scoresheet in the 52nd minute. Defender Alex Gimple hopped on a shot saved by Red Bulls II goalkeeper Aidan Stokes and played a ball across the six-yard box that was placed into the bottom right corner by midfielder Zachary Zengue.
Red Bulls II sealed the match with a fourth goal in the 58th minute. Worth played a corner kick into the box that was headed towards goal by defender Julian Bazan. The attempt was saved by the goalkeeper and Bazan pounced on the rebound and placed a left footed shot into the top left corner of the net.
Worth and Bazan scored their first career MLS NEXT Pro goals.
Worth also tallied his fourth assist of the season and has four goal contributions in his last two appearances.
Bazan made his MLS NEXT Pro debut and his first career MLS NEXT Pro start.
Nelich scored his first goal of the season and his third in his MLS NEXT Pro career.
Mitchell scored his fourth goal of the season and the 18th in his career in MLS NEXT Pro moving him into sole position of sixth-most goals scored in club history.
The forward also scored his 24th goal across all competitions and is tied with Stefano Bonomo for third-most goals scored across all competitions in club history.
The Montclair, N.J. native scored his sixth career goal against Columbus and has scored three in his last two matches against the side.
The forward also tallied his second career assist and his first career multi goal contribution match in MLS NEXT Pro.
Gjengaar provided his first and second career MLS NEXT Pro assists.
The midfielder has four goal contributions in his last two appearances.
Rojas earned his first assist of the season and the third of his career.
Stokes made six saves on the day.
With the victory, New York moved to 6-2-1 against Columbus and are unbeaten in five consecutive matches against the side.
Following Sunday’s match, Red Bulls II will travel to Subaru Park to face Philadelphia Union II on Sunday, May 3. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. ET with coverage available on OneFootball and MLSNEXTPro.com.
