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Union settle for 1-1 tie with Revolution

The Union closed the first half of their season with a performance Saturday that symbolized their first 15 up-and-down Major League Soccer games.

Sebastien Le Toux (left) and teammate Jordan Harvey celebrate Le Toux's goal. (Akira Suwa / Staff Photographer)
Sebastien Le Toux (left) and teammate Jordan Harvey celebrate Le Toux's goal. (Akira Suwa / Staff Photographer)Read more

The Union closed the first half of their season with a performance Saturday that symbolized their first 15 up-and-down Major League Soccer games.

After scoring one of their best goals of the season in the first half, the Union allowed one of the worst, settling for a 1-1 tie with the New England Revolution before 18,137 at PPL Park.

The Union are 4-8-3 while New England is 4-9-3.

First, the worst.

In the 71st minute, New England's Marko Perovic took a free kick about 40 yards from goal. Goalkeeper Chris Seitz, who has played every MLS game for the Union, dived to his right for the low shot that bent around the Union's wall. At about the six-yard line, the ball bounced, going high over Seitz's head and into the goal.

"It just went right up on me and I didn't have enough time to react," Seitz said.

It appeared as if staying upright would have been a better move, but not in Seitz's opinion.

"I don't think so," Seitz said. "Every time you go to a ball, you want as much of your body behind the ball as possible. That way if you don't catch it, you give up a rebound instead of letting it go behind you."

Perovic said he took advantage of some initial hesitation by Seitz.

"He didn't go to the ball and waited, and I saw a gap," Perovic said.

Seitz came under fire for some questionable goals allowed earlier this season, and it will be interesting to see if backup Brad Knighton will eventually get a chance.

Either way, the Union weren't about to point fingers.

"It was just a routine shot, it wasn't a pretty shot, it just bounced from off the ground so high that it was difficult for Chris to manage it as soon as he went to the ground," Union team manager Peter Nowak said.

After that goal, as they have done all season, the Union kept applying the heat.

In the 88th minute, MLS all-star Sebastien Le Toux fired a shot off a rebound from six yards out that was blocked simultaneously by Darrius Barnes and goalkeeper Matt Reis.

One minute later, newcomer Justin Mapp shot wide from an angle just outside the six-yard line.

In the 92d minute, Le Toux felt he was pulled down in the box while attempting to head Jack McInerney's cross, but he never got the call he pleaded for.

The Union took a 1-0 lead in the 25th minute with one of the best-looking give-and-go goals of the year.

The end sequence went from Le Toux to Alejandro Moreno, back to Le Toux, and over to Danny Mwanga.

Shielding the ball, Mwanga laid it off just outside the box for Le Toux. Going full steam, Le Toux blasted a bender inside the far post for his eighth goal.

"Danny was trying to hold the ball and I told him to leave it, and he left it for me and I knew I was going to shoot," Le Toux said.

For the longest time it appeared as if the goal would hold up. Until the Union's hopes were bounced.