For the first time this season, the Crew couldn't find a way to score a goal.

The Crew's high-flying attack, which entered Saturday's game at Charlotte FC with 18 goals on the season, the second-most in MLS, was halted by Charlotte's defense — which entered Saturday's game having conceded the second-most goals in MLS.

After conceding a goal to Charlotte in the 37th minute, the Crew applied relentless pressure on Charlotte's defense in the second half, but they were unable to finish any of the chances they created in the 1-0 loss. Midfielder Aidan Morris looked to have scored the tying goal in the 89th minute, but after a check by the video assistant referee, Morris was judged to be offside.

"Offside, it was a short, short, short, short offside, apparently," Crew coach Wilfried Nancy said. "I saw a bit the picture. But this is the way it is. I’m proud of the way the players fought in terms of trying to score this goal."

From the opening moments of the game, the Crew (4-3-2) were unsettled. Charlotte (2-4-3) won a free kick in the first minute, and defender Bill Tuiloma's header sailed through to goalkeeper Patrick Schulte, forcing him to make an early save.

In the eighth minute, defender Will Sands tangled with Charlotte winger Kamil Jozwiak and immediately fell to the ground clutching his left knee. After several minutes of attention from the Crew's athletic trainers, Sands was taken off the field on a stretcher. Nancy inserted Yaw Yeboah for the injured Sands at left wingback.

Nancy didn't have a specific update on Sands' injury after the game, but the early signs are not positive.

"We don't know exactly, but this is not good," Nancy said. "It's not good. For the moment, I don't want to talk, because I didn't meet the medical staff, but this is not good."

The early change left the Crew out of sorts for much of the the first half. Yeboah, a natural winger, was inserted for his offensive abilities, but it didn't take long for Charlotte to identify the Crew's left side as an area to attack.

In the 36th minute, the Crew cleared out a chance that Jozwiak created as he attacked into space from the left side of the Crew's defense. But less than a minute later, Jozwiak had the same space again. This time, Jozwiak found forward Karol Swiderski alone near the penalty spot, and Swiderski fired a shot into the upper right corner of the net to give Charlotte the 1-0 lead.

"The way they scored, yes, this is something that they did well," Nancy said. "We have to accept that, but we could have done better in terms of positioning."

To begin the second half, Charlotte wasn't looking to apply as much pressure as they held the lead, so the Crew were able to work the ball into the final third and create more chances. But as soon as the Crew threatened inside the penalty area, Charlotte snuffed out the attacks and quickly sent the ball back up the field to relieve the pressure.

The same sequence repeated for much of the second half. The Crew maintained possession of the ball and pushed it into dangerous scoring areas, but Charlotte's defenders were always in position to intercept key passes or clear the ball out in the most threatening moments. Though the Crew had 67% of the possession, they finished with 10 shots to Charlotte's 11, and Charlotte blocked five shots while recording 19 clearances and 11 interceptions.

"They defended well in the box," defender Mo Farsi said. "They were compact. For sure, I think we had a couple chances to score, but I have to give them credit, they defended well in the box."

In the 80th minute, midfielder Alex Mățan worked around Charlotte midfielder Derrick Jones in the corner of the six-yard box, looking for forward Jacen Russell-Rowe with a pass, but Charlotte again cleared the ball away before the pass could connect — exemplifying the Crew's difficulty in the final third throughout the game. Charlotte's compact defense didn't allow the Crew any gaps, and the Crew were unable to create any for themselves.

Russell-Rowe found Morris with a ball over the middle in the 89th minute, but Morris was ruled to be a bit ahead of the Charlotte back line as he received the ball, so his would-be equalizer was waved off. After going unbeaten in their last four games, with three wins in a row from March 25 to April 8, the Crew fell to Charlotte for their first loss since March 18.

"The second half, we did what we have to do," Nancy said. "We had chances. They defended with eight players inside the box. We had eight players in their box. ... I don’t like to talk about home game and away game, but the reality is that it was an away game and we were close to come back with a good mentality. I would say that we could have done better in certain situations."

bjohnson@dispatch.com

@BaileyAJohnson_

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew shut out by Charlotte FC in 1-0 loss