Football
ESPN staff 8y

Sebastian Giovinco's hat trick carries Toronto FC to win over Revolution

Sebastian Giovinco scored a hat trick and took over the MLS scoring lead as Toronto FC defeated the New England Revolution 4-1 on Saturday.

The Italian playmaker scored with two spectacular shots in the first half before completing his treble with a penalty to move past New York City FC's David Villa with 15 goals in 22 games.

Giovinco opened the scoring in the 20th minute by striking the ball with the outside of his foot from the side of the box and curling it inside the far post.

Less than 10 minutes later, he struck again with a powerful effort from the corner of the 18-yard box that slipped over the fingertips of Revs keeper Bobby Shuttleworth.

And after Darrius Barnes brought down Jonathan Osorio for a penalty, Giovinco scored from the spot in the 75th minute.

Teal Bunbury found a late consolation goal for New England, but Jozy Altidore cancelled that out with a goal in the closing seconds for Toronto, which moved within a point of NYCFC atop the Eastern Conference.

D.C. United's Steve Birnbaum scored in the 94th minute to salvage a 2-2 draw with the Philadelphia Union.

With United pushing hard for an equalizer, Birnbaum headed Patrick Nyarko's diagonal cross into the far corner of the goal.

Taylor Kemp opened the scoring for D.C. in the 16th minute, starting from behind the halfway line and beating Ken Tribbett with a step-over move late in his run.

But the Union answered with a long free kick from Tranquillo Barnetta just before the half, then took the lead after the break when Chris Pontius scored against his former team.

Charlie Davies came on as a substitute for his first appearance with the Union since Wednesday's trade from New England, but Philadelphia could not hang on for the win.

Marlon Hairston had a goal and an assist to help the Colorado Rapids beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-0.

The midfielder turned in Marc Burch's low cross to open the scoring in the 44th minute.

Hairston then turned provider for the Rapids' second goal when he sent in a low cross that Dominique Badji turned into the net after the hour mark.

Tim Howard kept his third clean sheet in six games as Colorado closed to within three points of FC Dallas for the Western Conference lead with two games in hand.

Matteo Mancosu scored in his first MLS start to help the Montreal Impact beat the Houston Dynamo 1-0.

Starting at striker in place of suspended scoring star Didier Drogba, Mancosu took down a long pass over the top from Italian compatriot Marco Donadel and slid a low shot inside the left post in the 77th minute.

Mancuso has two goals and an assist in four games since signing with the Impact on loan from Bologna in July.

The Impact have lost just once in their past 10 league games and moved up to third place in the East. Houston is winless in its past five games, scoring just once in that span.

Javier Morales had two goals and an assist and goalkeeper Nick Rimando set an MLS record for career victories in Real Salt Lake's 3-1 win over the Chicago Fire.

Rimando moved past Kevin Hartman to become the sole leader on the career list with 181.

Real Salt Lake (10-7-7) capped the scoring in the 64th minute when Morales scored on a left-footed strike that deflected of the left post. Six minutes earlier, former RSL midfielder Arturo Alvarez punched Nick LaBrocca's cross into the side netting to pull the Fire (4-11-6) within one.

Olmes Garcia finished Morales' cross in the 14th minute to open the scoring, and Juan Manuel Martinez drew a penalty in the area that led to Morales' penalty kick and a 2-0 RSL lead in the 28th.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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