WASHINGTON — Chris Pontius scored four minutes after halftime to lift D.C. United to a 1-0 win over the Columbus Crew and give United its seventh-straight home victory.
Pontius' team-leading 10th goal pushed United (11-7-3) within one win of tying the club record of eight straight home wins, set in 1998.
Andy Gruenebaum made six saves for the Crew (8-8-4), who failed to build on a two-game win streak for the third time this season.
United remains in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, while the Crew failed to make up ground on fifth-place Chicago — and the conference's final playoff spot.
IMPACT 2, UNION 0: At Montreal, Andrew Wenger headed in a goal just before halftime and Felipe Martins added another in the 79th minute for Montreal. Both clubs played the final 21 minutes with 10 men after Montreal's Nelson Rivas and forward Jack McInerney were shown red cards after a shoving match.
SPORTING KC 1, REVOLUTION 0: At Foxborough, Mass., Teal Bunbury scored in the 20th minute and Kansas City clinched the three-match season series against New England with two wins and a tie. Sporting KC (11-8-4) snapped a three-match winless streak (0-2-1). New England (6-11-5) had its winless skid extended to five matches (0-4-1), having scored just two goals over the
FIRE 2, TORONTO FC 1: At Bridgeview, Ill., Austin Berry and Marco Pappa scored to rally Chicago to a victory over Toronto FC. Berry headed Pavel Pardo's free kick over Toronto goalkeeper Milos Kocic from 10 yards out in the 84th minute to give the Fire the lead. Pappa tied the match from close range in the 64th minute.