Crew boosts playoff prospects with Orlando City draw

<p>Fullback Marcelo Herrera scored his third goal and the Columbus Crew earned their best result in weeks with a 1-1 draw Saturday night at Orlando City.</p> <p>Goalkeeper Patrick Schulte's error not long after Herrera's tally kept the Crew from halting a winless run that extended to four matches.</p> <p>But it was still a promising performance from Columbus (13-8-12, 51 points) against a potential playoff opponent, even though it remained ninth in the Eastern Conference with the draw.</p> <p>Crew leading scorer Diego Rossi also made his first appearance since suffering a hamstring injury in a 5-4 win Sept. 13 at Atlanta.</p> <p>Marco Pasalic scored his 12th league goal for Orlando (14-7-11, 53 points), which saw a three-match home MLS winning streak snapped.</p> <p>Pedro Gallese made six saves in a performance the Lions needed to extend a modest unbeaten run to four games, which includes three draws.</p> <p>Columbus opened the scoring in the 32nd minute before Orlando responded only two minutes later.</p> <p>For the Crew, Lassi Lappalainen got down the left, then appeared to catch Orlando's defense off guard by sending in a cross a few yards before he reached the byline.</p> <p>It met Herrera making a clever run parallel to the goal line, and the Argentine dispatched a tidy first-time finish past the flailing Gallese, who had too little time to react.</p> <p>The Lions pulled level essentially on their next trip into the Columbus end.</p> <p>Luis Muriel took a speculative shot from outside the box that dipped as it reached Schulte, who spilled it forward.</p> <p>Pasalic reacted to the error before the keeper could and capitalized for his first tally since he scored a consolation goal in a Leagues Cup semifinal defeat to Miami on Aug. 27.</p> <p>Columbus had the better of the late chances.</p> <p>Gallese made an enormous save with his trailing leg in the 83rd minute to deny Max Arfsten at point-blank range after Arfsten outmuscled Alex Freeman for a cross.</p> <p>Three minutes later, Herrera and Darlington Nagbe combined to find Daniel Gazdag, who missed the target from an excellent position near the penalty spot.</p>