Julian Hall Makes MLS History With Youngest Regular-Season Hat Trick as Red Bulls Beat Crew 3-2

The Columbus Crew had the ball for almost 70 percent of the night at Sports Illustrated Stadium. Julian Hall only needed it for a few touches. Three finishes from point-blank range, three goals, and an 18-year-old walked off with a piece of MLS history.

Red Bull New York beat the Columbus Crew 3-2 on Wednesday night behind a Hall hat trick, with the third goal arriving in the 78th minute after Columbus had clawed back from a goal down twice. According to MLSsoccer.com, Hall is now the youngest player in MLS history to log a regular-season hat trick, surpassing Ricardo Pepi. The Red Bulls' own recap puts his age at 18 years and 50 days.

Hall Strikes, Columbus Answers, Hall Strikes Again

It took seven minutes for Hall to announce himself. Cade Cowell got loose and fed him in the six-yard box, and Hall finished right-footed from point-blank range. The Red Bulls' recap says Emil Forsberg started the move with a through ball wide to Cowell.

Columbus took control of the ball after that and leveled at 22 minutes, when Hugo Picard set up Max Arfsten for a left-footed finish from the center of the box into the top left corner. The Crew kept pushing, with Picard forcing a save from Ethan Horvath at 34 minutes and three more attempts flying over or getting blocked in the next five minutes.

Then Hall did it again. At 40 minutes, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty sent Cowell down the right, according to the club, and Cowell's cross found Hall for a left-footed finish from close range. VAR checked it and confirmed the goal. Red Bull New York went into the break up 2-1 despite having far less of the ball.

Hall nearly completed the set four minutes after the restart, but Patrick Schulte saved his shot from the middle of the box at 49 minutes after a Ronald Donkor through ball. Columbus answered by going to its bench, sending on Mohamed Farsi and Diego Rossi on the hour.

Hall Is Not Normal

Julian Hall finished with five shots, four on target and three goals, and he even needed a stoppage for an injury at 71 minutes before scoring his third seven minutes later. The Red Bulls say the hat trick gave him his seventh, eighth and ninth goals of the season and left him tied for the fourth-most goals in MLS. MLSsoccer.com counts nine goals and two assists in 13 appearances.

He admitted that when he heard about the record after the game, "I got kind of emotional," per MLSsoccer.com. He followed it up with credit to his teammates: "I'm just really grateful and thankful for the guys that set me up and put me in a great position."

Cade Cowell was the setup man on the first two. Two assists, which the club says were his fourth and fifth of the MLS season, plus a shot that Patrick Schulte saved at 30 minutes.

Diego Rossi made an instant impact off the Columbus bench, converting a penalty and then forcing a Horvath save a minute after that.

Michael Bradley, the Red Bulls head coach, kept it simple when asked about his teenage striker. "Jules is a great kid. Nothing's going in his head," Bradley said, per MLSsoccer.com. He also had fun with the All-Star question, joking about whether coaches are allowed to vote for their own players before adding, "If I were a coach on another team, I'd vote for Jules." Hall, asked about the World Cup chatter that MLSsoccer.com says his form has sparked, stayed grounded. "Whatever happens happens, my focus is with the club," he said.

The Corner That Settled It

Columbus deserved credit for the second comeback. Omar Valencia, a halftime substitute, was called for a handball in the box at 63 minutes, and Rossi, on for only four minutes, sent the penalty into the bottom right corner. With the Crew dominating possession and New York chasing shadows, 2-2 felt like the floor for Columbus, not the ceiling.

Instead, the Red Bulls won a corner at 78 minutes. Rafael Mosquera, on since the 65th minute, swung in a cross, Gustav Berggren's header was blocked, and Hall reacted fastest, stretching to fire a right-footed finish into the bottom right corner. It was the only one of Hall's three goals that didn't come from Cowell, and it might have been the most predatory.

Arfsten had gone close a minute earlier, firing just past the top right corner at 77 minutes, and Rudy Camacho shot wide at 83. That was as close as Columbus got.

Stats That Matter

• Possession: Columbus 69.5 percent, Red Bull New York 30.5 percent.
• Passing: Columbus completed 607 of 696 passes. The Red Bulls completed 222 of 300.
• Shots on target: New York put six on target to Columbus's four. Hall alone had four.
• Fouls: The Red Bulls committed 17 to Columbus's seven.
• Saves: Horvath and Schulte each made two.

What It Means

The Red Bulls improve to 5-3-5 with 18 points, the exact record New York City FC carries into Saturday's derby. It's their first back-to-back wins since they opened the season with two straight, following a 3-1 win at Chicago on May 9. Next up is New York City FC on Saturday at Sports Illustrated Stadium, the second New York Derby of the season, per the club.

Columbus drops to 3-3-7 with 12 points after a third straight loss, following a 3-2 home defeat to Minnesota United FC and a 3-0 loss at New York City FC on May 10. The Crew have had plenty of the ball. The finishing and the game management are the problem.

A Star Is Born, Again

There's a moment in every coming-of-age movie when the kid realizes he belongs. Hall seems to have skipped that scene and gone straight to the record books. He has outpaced a national team striker on the youngest-hat-trick list, he is sitting near the top of the scoring chart, and on Wednesday he beat a team that had the ball for almost 70 percent of the night. Columbus played the possession game. Hall played the only game that counts.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes as reported by MLSsoccer.com; additional notes from Red Bull New York's official match recap.