United's Olsen Fills Unlikely Role in Victory

United 4, Red Bulls 2

D.C. United's Ben Olsen celebrates his third goal against the New York Red Bulls. (Haraz N. Ghanbari - AP)

The seasons have passed, the body has declined and the demands have changed. Ben Olsen is no longer the hyper, wild-haired winger who once terrorized opposing flanks and created a ruckus with every rowdy run. The older Olsen is a blue-collar man, a feisty and disruptive presence that has had to compensate for career-changing injuries by filling a variety of secondary roles.

On one overcast afternoon, however, in the ninth match of his ninth season since departing the University of Virginia, Olsen left the field to an ovation usually reserved for the glamour players of the game.

With a lunging header early, a clever finish in the middle of the second half and a breathtaking half-volley late, D.C. United's veteran midfielder recorded his first career hat trick and led his club to a 4-2 victory over the MLS-leading New York Red Bulls before 18,066 at RFK Stadium yesterday.

"It was just one of those days where I was feeling it a little bit, and it felt good," said Olsen, 30, who had enjoyed a two-goal game once in his previous 184 regular season appearances -- also against New York -- and had only eight goals the past three-plus seasons combined. "It's been a while since I've scored that many goals. I'd have to go back to when I was 13 years old or something like that."

Olsen's goals -- two of which came with the club short-handed following Bobby Boswell's ejection in the 60th minute -- helped United (4-3-2) extend its unbeaten streak to six games and improve to 12-1-4 in its last 17 meetings in all competitions with the arch-rival Red Bulls (6-3-2).

Luciano Emilio ended a six-game scoreless streak with a tiebreaking goal early in the second half, and Christian Gomez and Fred added two assists apiece for United, which broke out of its season-long attacking funk with its highest goal total since last September.

"Benny is a goal scorer, in my mind," quipped Boswell, who then tapped a handmade illustration on the side of his locker with a photograph of the bearded Olsen as the third character in an Evolution of Man diagram.

"I'm a little mad at him -- I thought he could've had four or five," Coach Tom Soehn joked. "He's a warrior out there."

Olsen also left an impression on New York Coach Bruce Arena, who recruited him to U-Va. and coached him for one season at United as well as several years with the U.S. national team.

"He used to be a young player with a lot of energy that ran around with his head chopped off and now he's a player who is all about playing with his head," Arena said. "He dominated intellectually today. He may not have dominated physically, but he dominated in the tactical and technical end."

Olsen provided the lead in the 15th minute when he made a fearless run into the box and nodded Josh Gros's bouncing long ball into the left corner. The Red Bulls countered three minutes later on Dema Kovalenko's 20-yarder that deflected off United's Bryan Namoff.

Before Olsen resumed his scoring, United took charge at the start of the second half. Fred, who has been slow to adapt to his role on the flanks, inspired the resurgence and, in the 49th minute, fought off Kovalenko's challenge and crossed to Emilio for a simple finish.

"Some of it was New York coming out flat but a lot of it was us coming out with a lot of energy and really dictating the terms of the game," Soehn said.

United's momentum came to a halt 11 minutes later, however, when Boswell received his second yellow card for holding up Jozy Altidore in stride just outside the box. Down a player and without his top defender, Soehn handed Olsen additional defensive responsibility, but even that did not prevent him from turning the match into a rout.

In the 72nd minute, Olsen collected Brian Carroll's pass on the right side of the box, cut it back on Seth Stammler and then skipped a shot off goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus and just past a retreating defender for a 3-1 lead.

His final goal was his finest -- a 25-yarder struck at shin level that streaked past Waterreus. New York's Juan Pablo Ángel answered a minute later, but the day belonged to Olsen, the working-class player who had rocketed to the top of United's season scoring list.

"I've played three or four different positions this year, and that's fine," Olsen said. "This is about the team and wherever I can fit in, I want to do that. I want to be on the field. If I can fit in and help the team in whatever way is possible, usually it's not scoring goals, usually it's a lot of the other stuff, but today seemed to be a lucky day for me."