MONTREAL (AP) — Diego Rossi and rookie Marino Hinestroza scored second-half goals to propel the Columbus Crew to a 3-1 victory over CF Montreal on Wednesday night.
The defending-champion Crew (4-2-6) began the night in eighth place in the Eastern Conference and had not earned a victory since beating the New York Red Bulls on March 16. They went 0-2-5 until righting the ship against Montreal (3-6-3).
Columbus took a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute on Max Arfsten’s second goal of the season and second in as many weeks. Arfsten took a pass from Christian Ramírez and sent a right-footed shot from the right side of the box to the high center of the net.
Montreal pulled even at halftime when Mathieu Choinière scored his first goal this season on a penalty kick in the second minute of stoppage time. Choinière was awarded the PK after a yellow card on Crew goalkeeper Patrick Schulte.
Columbus retook the lead in the 59th minute on Rossi’s first goal this season — with another assist from Ramírez.
Hinestroza, who subbed in for Christian Ramírez in the 84th minute, used assists from Steven Moreira and Aidan Morris to find the net in the 89th for some insurance. The 21-year-old Hinestroza has two goals in three starts and eight appearances this season.
Jonathan Sirois totaled one save for Montreal. Schulte stopped four shots for Columbus.
Montreal, which took a 2-0 lead over first-place Inter Miami before losing 3-2 last week, has not won since beat FC Cincinnati on April 13.
The two clubs played to a scoreless draw in Columbus on April 27.
The Crew lead the all-time series 14-9-6 and improve to 4-6-3 in Montreal.
It was the 900th match in Montreal’s history. The club is 415-333-152 all time.
Montreal travels to play Toronto FC on Saturday. Columbus stays on the road to play the Chicago Fire on Saturday.
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