Luciano Emilio gave DC United an early lead, but the visiting Screaming Eagles couldn't hold on, eventually settling for a 2-2 draw with the New England Revolution.

Emilio scored for the second consecutive game, and last season's Golden Boot winner seems to be finding his predatory instincts after an early dry spell.

After New England failed to clear a 15th minute free kick, Clyde Simms drove a powerful volley directly at Matt Reis. Emilio was there to take advantage of the rebound, heading the ball into Reis' net for a 1-0 lead.

United stretched its lead to two when Fred latched onto another rebound in the 53rd minute. Emilio weaved through the Revolution defense only to see his shot cleared off the line directly to Jaime Moreno. His effort was saved by Reis, but Fred made no mistakes firing low to stake DC to a two-goal advantage.

Six minutes later, Adam Cristman knocked in another rebound to pull one back for the Revolution.

Kheli Dube then finished the scoring in the 72nd street to pry the full three points from DC United's grasp.

Steve Ralston sent a bending free kick to Zach Wells far post where Jeff Larentowicz skied above the pack to head the ball across the face of goal to a waiting Dube. The Zimbabwean headed past Wells to score his third goal of the season, helping make up for the absence of Taylor Twellman.

Scoring
DCU - Luciano Emilio 3 15'
DCU - Fred 1 53'
NE - Adam Cristman 2 (Kheli Dube) 59'
NE - Kheli Dube 3 (Steve Ralston, Jeff Larentowicz) 72'

Line-ups
DCU - Zach Wells; Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Domenic Mediate, Gonzalo Martinez, Santino Quaranta, Marcelo Gallardo, Clyde Simms, Fred (Marc Burch 88'), Jaime Moreno (Rod Dyachenko 78'), Luciano Emilio

NE - Matt Reis; Chris Albright, Michael Parkhurst, Jay Heaps, Wells Thompson (Adam Cristman 39'), Shalrie Joseph, Jeff Larentowicz, Mauricio Castro (Khano Smith 64'), Sainey Nyassi (Amaechi Igwe 88'), Kheli Dube, Steve Ralston