The Columbus Crew found themselves behind 2-0 against Charlotte within the first nine minutes Saturday at Bank of America Stadium. The Crew managed to cut the lead to one, but Charlotte responded and won the battle 3-1. Here are our three takeaways from Saturday’s contest:

1.    Homegrown product Chase Adams scored the Crew’s only goal. He headed one in from just inside the 6-yard box directly in front of the goal on a perfect crosser from Brooks Lennon. At 18 years and 120 days old, Adams is the youngest goalscorer in Crew history. Interim head coach Lauren Courtois noted, ““I don’t do any favors. Young or old, he deserved it. The timing was right. He did what we know he can do. Congrats. Now, he needs to confirm.” 

2.   The Crew defense has been outstanding in this challenging season. However, on Saturday they conceded two goals at the very beginning of the match and put too much pressure on the struggling offense. Defender Brooks Lennon talked about the adjustments that were necessary, “I think going down early, especially that first 15 minutes, is not the way we want to be playing, and so I think we got together as a group and said we’ve got to be more on the front foot, start putting the ball in the box, getting some service into the box.”

3.   On whether the multi-position Eric Bailly and forward Gonzalo Tapia will be ready in the near term for the Black & Gold, Courtois said, “Eric is training with us and is slowly building himself up for collective team training. Tapia is going to be with us soon.”