Columbus Crew Fire Club-Record 33 Shots, Rally Past Charlotte FC 3-1 Despite Kristijan Kahlina's 11 Saves

Thirty-three shots. Not across a week, not across a road trip. In one match. The Columbus Crew spent Wednesday night at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field firing at Kristijan Kahlina like he owed them money, and for an hour the Charlotte FC goalkeeper kept sending the bill back.

Eventually, the dam broke. Columbus beat Charlotte 3-1, coming from behind on goals from Brais Méndez, Anass Zaroury and Taha Habroune after Idan Toklomati had given the visitors an early lead. According to the Crew, those 33 shots set a club record, and the 22 they took in the first half alone set another club record, topping a mark of 21 from 1999.

Charlotte Steal One, Then Hold On for Dear Life

Columbus had the early looks. Zaroury and Josef Martínez both missed in the opening six minutes, and Kahlina pushed away a Steven Moreira effort in the 15th. Charlotte's threat ran almost entirely through Allan Saint-Maximin, who forced a save from Schulte in the 12th minute and blazed over a minute later. Then Charlotte scored against the run of play. In the 17th minute, Toklomati stole the ball from a Columbus defender, faked left and beat Patrick Schulte with his right foot from the middle of the box, per Charlotte's recap. It was his 12th goal of the season, tying Pep Biel for the club lead.

Columbus responded the way they had all night: by shooting. Kahlina saved from Méndez in the 23rd minute and Zaroury in the 26th, and two minutes later Méndez finally got one through. After the Crew won the ball high up the field, Santiago Rodríguez set him up and the Spaniard hit a low, first-time left-footer from outside the box into the bottom right corner.

The rest of the half was a Kahlina highlight package. He stopped Zaroury again in the 30th minute, Rodríguez in the 32nd, Habroune in the 38th and Méndez twice more in the closing minutes, while Dylan Chambost hit the right post in the 38th. Charlotte's club site said his eight first-half saves were tied for the third-most he had made in an entire match for Charlotte. Somehow, it was 1-1 at the break.

Two Minutes, Two Goals

Charlotte coach Dean Smith made three changes at halftime, bringing on Nathan Byrne, Luca de la Torre and Rodolfo Aloko, but the second half looked a lot like the first. Columbus missed narrowly in the 49th, 51st, 60th and 62nd minutes, and Kahlina made two more saves in the 55th and 56th.

In the 63rd minute, Mohamed Farsi delivered a cross that bounced to Zaroury, who volleyed it into the high center of the net for his first goal for the Crew. Two minutes later, Habroune jumped on a loose pass from Ashley Westwood, dribbled into the box and slotted it into the bottom right corner. "I didn't see the man," Westwood admitted afterward.

Charlotte's best chance to get back into it was a Henry Kessler header that drifted wide in the 71st minute. Kahlina added one more save on Martínez in the 77th, and eight minutes of stoppage time came and went without much drama.

The Big Performers

Brais Méndez took eight shots, put five on target and scored the equalizer. The Crew said he has 11 goal contributions in 17 matches across all competitions. "I knew that if we kept trying, that it was going to go in at any point," he said.

Anass Zaroury led all players with nine shots and four on target, and finally broke through with the winner. "Very happy and delighted to have scored my first goal for the Crew," he said.

Taha Habroune scored for the second straight match and now has four MLS goals this season, according to Columbus.

Santiago Rodríguez set up the equalizer and took four shots of his own, and he shows up as the setup man on attempt after attempt in the play-by-play.

Kristijan Kahlina made a career-best 11 saves, per Charlotte. In a 3-1 loss. That is the goalkeeping version of carrying a group project by yourself and still getting a C.

The Turning Point

Zaroury's volley in the 63rd minute changed the night. Columbus had been knocking on the door for an hour and had only one goal to show for it, and every Kahlina save made you wonder whether this was going to be one of those nights. Once the second goal went in, Charlotte cracked, and Habroune's goal two minutes later made sure there would be no late heist. Westwood did not sugarcoat it: "It's probably the first time we've really been outworked by another team."

Stats That Matter

• Shots: Columbus 33, Charlotte nine.
• Shots on target: Columbus 14, Charlotte 2. The Crew put 14 on target for the second straight match, per the club.
• Saves: Kahlina 11, Schulte one.
• Corners: Columbus 10, Charlotte four.
• Possession: Columbus 52.9 percent.

What It Means

Columbus improved to 9-5-15 with 32 points and bounced back from a 3-2 loss at Orlando City SC on Saturday. Interim head coach Laurent Courtois was full of praise: "Obviously, they had an incredible performance." Next up is a trip to FC Cincinnati on Sunday, after the Crew won the first meeting this season 2-1 in July.

Charlotte dropped to 13-7-9 with 46 points, a result that came right after a 3-2 home win over FC Dallas. Charlotte had won the August meeting 3-1 at home, so the season series finished level at one win apiece. Charlotte head to Philadelphia on Saturday, and Smith already had one eye on it, calling the Union "the team that's flying."

The Closing Take

Westwood's verdict, "We simply weren't good enough tonight," was honest, but it undersells how close Kahlina came to stealing a point by himself. Habroune, meanwhile, went big afterward: "I think we have one of the best teams in the league based off players." Bold talk for a team with 32 points, but after 33 shots in one night, nobody in Columbus is going to tell him to shoot less.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Records and postgame quotes as reported by the Columbus Crew and Charlotte FC.