| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
Galaxy 3, Crew 1
Sunday August 10, 2003CARSON, Calif. (AP) In just 30 minutes of play, the Los Angeles Galaxy showed it has a new, explosive one-two punch up front.
Carlos Ruiz scored twice and newly acquired Diego Serna once in a 3-1 victory over the Columbus Crew Saturday night.
The defending MLS champions have struggled offensively throughout the season and have made three trades since July 11, including obtaining Serna on Friday in a trade with New England.
Serna was inserted into the scoreless game in the 60th minute and figured in on Los Angeles' first goal, when he was fouled by Mike Clark. The Galaxy (5-6-7) was awarded a penalty kick.
``When Diego came in, you definitely saw his experience play a big factor,'' Los Angeles midfielder Cobi Jones said. ``He's very dangerous with the ball, so he can get it and hold it.''
Ruiz put his 68th-minute penalty kick inside the left goalpost as Columbus goalkeeper Jon Busch dove to his right.
Edson Buddle tied the score for the Crew (5-8-5) in the 74th minute with his second goal of the season. Clark was credited with the assist on Buddle's first goal since scoring against the Galaxy in a 1-1 overtime tie in the season opener for both teams April 5 at Columbus.
Ruiz scored the tiebreaker in the 86th minute on a bicycle kick off Jones' assist for his 10th goal of the season.
``That goal's got to be a candidate for goal of the year,'' Los Angeles coach Sigi Schmid said. ``Already it might have ended the competition.''
Serna scored an insurance goal in the 89th minute off Ruiz's assist as Galaxy won back-to-back games for only the second time this season.
The loss left the Crew remained in last in the five-team Eastern Conference, falling to 1-5-2 in its last eight games.
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