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Cristman leads New England over L.A., Beckham

Fri 4th, July 2008

Carson, CA (Sports Network) - Adam Cristman scored two first-half goals and the New England Revolution held off David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy, 2-1, on Friday to win a battle conference leaders at The Home Depot Center.

Cristman scored in the 33rd and 37th minutes for his fifth and sixth goals this year. Beckham scored his fifth of the year in the 66th minute for Los Angeles.

New England (10-4-3) pushed its lead in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer to seven points entering a 35-day layoff. The Revs next MLS match is on Aug. 9.

Los Angeles (6-6-3) failed to increase its lead in the Western Conference and dropped to 1-5-1 against Eastern Conference opponents this season.

The Revolution took a 1-0 lead in the 33rd minute when Cristman tapped the ball just inside the right post. The play started with a Steve Ralston corner kick, and after Shalrie Joseph's header forced L.A. goalkeeper Steve Cronin to spill a rebound, Cristman lunged to knock the ball into the net.

Cristman added his sixth goal of the year four minutes later, this time getting under a corner kick from Ralston to head the ball by Cronin. Ralston delivered the ball to the far side of the penalty area and Cristman got free to unleash a well-struck header.

Cristman had two chances to complete a hat trick, but late in the first half he decided to pass to teammate Mauricio Castro and he fired wide right of an empty net. In the second half, Cristman passed on another scoring chance to set up a teammate but it didn't result in a goal.

Los Angeles brought Landon Donovan off the bench to try and bring some life to its offense to start the second half and Edson Buddle finally tested Revolution goalie Matt Reis in the 58th minute.

The Galaxy continued to be dangerous with Donovan leading the offense and their efforts finally resulted in Beckham's goal in the 66th minute.

Donovan, who leads MLS in goals (11) and assists (7) and Buddle, who is second on the team and in the league in goals (10), helped set up Beckham's goal. Both made long runs and had the ball in the area before it bounced to the top of the box.

Beckham ran onto the loose ball and drilled a low shot that deflected off a New England defender and sailed into the upper left corner.

L.A.'s Mike Randolph nearly tied the match seconds later when Beckham found him with a cross but his powerful shot dipped just over the bar and into the top of the net.

Beckham nearly set up the tying goal again in the 77th minute but after finding Buddle in the area, his shot from 13 yards slammed off crossbar.

Los Angeles continued to pressure but couldn't find the equalizer in the final 15 minutes.

The Galaxy will try to bounce back on Thursday when they host Chivas USA. New England turns its attention to the SuperLiga, which starts with a match against Santos Laguna on July 13.

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