Emilio, Pontius Score Late To Lift United to Road Win

United 3, Red Bulls 2

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., April 26 -- All things considered, D.C. United probably should have been content with a tie Sunday after Brazilian striker Luciano Emilio scored a late equalizer at Giants Stadium. A 90-degree afternoon on unforgiving artificial turf had taken its toll on mind, body and soul, and considering United's futility on the road the past year, a draw with the New York Red Bulls might have been sufficient.

"We are on the road, it's been a hard game," rookie Chris Pontius said, "but [teammate Bryan] Namoff was saying, 'Push up, let's win it real quick.' So I was like, 'All right, I'll go one more time.' I didn't have much legs left."

Pontius had just enough left to pounce on a loose ball and score from seven yards in the first minute of added time -- United's second goal in 1 minute 42 seconds -- to cap a stirring comeback and provide a 3-2 victory before 10,303 sun-scorched spectators.

The remarkable finish ended an 11-game winless streak on the road (in all competitions) that began last August and marked the second time in 10 days that the club earned valuable points in the MLS standings with a late goal.

"Funny, we said it was a 90-minute game and they waited until about the last three minutes to turn it up," United Coach Tom Soehn said. "It was a gutty performance."

United (2-1-3) went ahead midway through the first half on rookie Rodney Wallace's first goal, but despite thoroughly outplaying the Red Bulls (1-4-2), failed to further capitalize. D.C.'s propensity to surrender leads continued when New York, inspired by Jorge Rojas's entry at halftime, responded on goals by Juan Pablo Ángel and Dane Richards six minutes apart.

Unable to regenerate the attack, United seemed on course for another deflating result. But Emilio knocked in Santino Quaranta's volleyed cross and Pontius scored his second goal of the year after reserve Thabiso "Boyzzz" Khumalo took advantage of New York's sloppy defense.

"With the history of what we've been dealing with this year, it's easy to fold in that situation," said midfielder Ben Olsen, who on April 17 scored in added time to earn a 1-1 tie with New England. "We manned up and, to pull that off is very impressive."

Despite the absences of Christian Gómez (hamstring) and Jaime Moreno (heel), United was sharp in the first half and probably should have done better with its chances. Pontius, a first-round pick who has played primarily on the right flank and forward, was moved into Gómez's playmaking role.

In the 21st minute, Quaranta ran onto Namoff's long ball and steered a cross to the far post, where Wallace, a former Bullis and University of Maryland star, directed in a sliding four-yard shot.

Quaranta found himself alone again five minutes later, this time on a breakaway off Pontius's flick, but chipped the ball over both goalkeeper Jon Conway and the crossbar. Just before halftime, Wallace's bid was cleared off the goal line by former Maryland teammate Jeremy Hall.

"We could've put them away earlier," Soehn said. "You keep a team around, especially on the road, you've got to finish your chances. We had really good chances."