When San Jose midfielder Alberto Quintero feathered a pass through three Crew SC defenders into the 18-yard box, two words crossed the mind of Corey Ashe.

"Oh, crap," he recalled.

As the Earthquakes' Cordell Cato slipped behind Ashe on an overlapping run, many Crew teammates, coaches and fans probably had the same reaction only with a different four-letter word.

When San Jose midfielder Alberto Quintero feathered a pass through three Crew SC defenders into the 18-yard box, two words crossed the mind of Corey Ashe.

"Oh, crap," he recalled.

As the Earthquakes' Cordell Cato slipped behind Ashe on an overlapping run, many Crew teammates, coaches and fans probably had the same reaction only with a different four-letter word.

Columbus maintained a 1-0 lead into the 60th minute as Cato took his first touch near the end line about 10 yards from Steve Clark's right post. The San Jose midfielder had three teammates well positioned in the box.

It looked like the kind of dangerous opportunity that would produce a tying goal. The type of pivotal breakdown Crew fans have grown accustomed to seeing in a season where the home side routinely has turned three points into one.

Ashe pursued Cato and decided if the opponent took a second touch on the ball he would make one of the game's riskiest moves – a sliding challenge in the 18-yard box.

"If Corey doesn't get all ball, it's a pretty easy penalty call," captain Michael Parkhurst said. "It's a high-risk, high-reward tackle."

These are the little moments that become big in the course of game. These are the moments the Crew (5-9-11) has rarely managed well this season.

"That's obviously not a situation I want to put myself in," Ashe admitted.

The 30-year-old defender found himself in the tight spot because he and two teammates had failed to close out Quintero seconds earlier. Ashe, Tony Tchani and Justin Meram seemingly had the opponent surrounded just outside the box, but nobody pressured the ball.

The mistake allowed the speedy Cato that extra second to make his run down the touchline. Quintero squirted a through ball between Tchani and Ashe.

The entire sequence was highlighted in Tuesday morning's film session.

"We don't want the ball to go behind there, we want the ball to stay wide," Clark said.

Added Ashe: "One of the three of us needs to do a better job of getting pressure on the ball. In that play it was kind of shadow defending. We're forcing him one way but not taking advantage of it."

The Earthquakes' Chris Wondolowski, Henok Goitom and Simon Dawkins waited inside the box for a pass. Each player was fairly well marked, but Ashe can't be sure of it.

Perhaps the most underrated aspect of the sequence was Nicolai Naess getting himself between Cato and the near post – virtually denying the attacker any quick shot on goal.

Ashe saw Cato -- running parallel with the end line -- take the second touch.

"I figured I would have time because he would look for Wondolowski," Ashe said of the Earthquakes' top offensive weapon.

The defender slid into the challenge and, with his left foot, knocked the ball cleanly away from Cato. Not only did Ashe dispossess the attacker, he had the presence of mind to sweep the ball out of danger to Meram.

"I just told myself I've got to go for it," Ashe said. "I was able to see the ball and I told myself if he took one more touch I'm going for it. I saw the ball, I made a play on it and fortunately I was able to win it and we got."

On arguably the Earthquakes' most promising possession inside the box, they didn't register a shot. It proved the biggest defensive play in the Crew's 2-0 victory.

"We're worrying about the cut-back pass an out of nowhere Corey makes a sliding tackle," Parkhurst said. "It's the kind of play we need guys to make coming down the stretch."

treed@dispatch.com

Twitter: @treed1919