Red Bulls eliminate defending champion Crew in shootout

Carlos Coronel saved three straight penalties and Daniel Edelman scored the winner at the end of the seventh frame as the New York Red Bulls stunned the Columbus Crew to win the best-of-three first-round series on Sunday in Harrison, New Jersey .

After regular time it was 2-2 before the Red Bulls won 5-4 after a penalty shootout.

The reigning MLS Cup champions Crew were the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference and had the second-most points in the MLS behind Inter Miami – setting club records for most goals (72) and points (66) during the regular season.

New York, the No. 7 seed, won 1-0 in Columbus on Tuesday.

Columbus leads the all-time series across all competitions at 40-37-14. However, the Red Bulls are 23-13-7 at home against the Crew, including 3-0-1 in the playoffs, with all three wins coming at Red Bull Arena. New York is 4-1-1 in their last five home playoff games.

With the Crew's season on the line, Christian Ramirez, who had come on ten minutes earlier, equalized 2-2 in the 96th minute with a header from Alex Matan's corner.

A penalty from Emil Forsberg gave the Red Bulls a 2-1 lead in the 80th minute. He was fouled by Rudy Camacho just a meter outside the penalty area to set up the free kick, which he hammered into the bottom left corner.

Max Arfsten gave Columbus the lead in the 55th minute before Dante Vanzeir equalized nine minutes later.

Arfsten, who had come on for DeJuan Jones a minute earlier, cleverly blocked Cucho Hernandez and fired a shot past Coronel.

The Red Bulls equalized in transition when Forsberg found Vanzeir in free space for a shot from the left side of the penalty area.

Columbus managed to do anything but score in a dominant first half that saw the Crew take a 9-2 lead.

But the crew were left to wonder if it wasn't their day when, in the 40th minute, both Diego Rossi and Hernandez hit the left post with successive shots within 30 seconds of each other and a follow-up attempt from Steven Moreira was blocked by Sean Nealis.

Colonel stopped the shooting attempts of Yevhen Cheberko, Arfsten and Matan in the last three of seven rounds. Red Bulls' Noah Eile, Wikelman Carmona, Elias Manoel, Forsberg and Edelman found the net.

Columbus was looking to join the Los Angeles Galaxy (2011-12), Houston Dynamo (2006-07) and DC United (1996-97) as repeat champions and continue its quest to tie DC for second place with four MLS Cups, one, continue beyond the galaxy.

Information from Reuters and The Associated Press was used in this story.