CHESTER, Pa. -- The Union viewed Wednesday night's marquee matchup vs. the L.A. Galaxy as a big test to see how they stacked up against the league's elite franchise.
They didn't get a win but you can still say that they passed it.
In a wildly entertaining inter-conference contest at Talen Energy Stadium, rookie Keegan Rosenberry scored his first career goal to lift the Union to a 2-2 draw vs. the star-studded Galaxy.
"It's so valuable to get games like that," Union head coach Jim Curtin said. "It's a big-boy game. You look out there and that's a game with a lot of men on the field, a lot of former champions on the field."
The Galaxy certainly have plenty of big-name stars on their roster and, unlike in past years, they brought them all across the country to Philly.
But the Union weren't scared to go against Steven Gerrard, Robbie Keane, Giovani dos Santos and the rest of the L.A. stars, remaining unbeaten at home this season with a 3-0-2 mark.
Vincent Nogueira also scored for the Union (5-3-1), while Americans Robbie Rogers and Mike Magee netted goals for the Galaxy (5-1-4), who are unbeaten in their last eight.
"It's frustrating we didn't get three points, but still it was a good performance," Nogueira said. "We scored twice and they didn't have a lot of opportunities, so it was a good game. Unfortunately, we left with just one point."
With the game tied at 1-1 at at the half, the Galaxy wasted no time taking the lead coming out of the locker room as Magee, the 2013 MVP, scored his fourth of the season in the 48th minute following sharp passes from dos Santos and Gerrard.
The Union looked like they tied it in the 55th minute but Chris Pontius' goal was called back after Tranquillo Barnetta, who played it to Pontius, was called offside.
But just eight minutes later, the Union scored for real when Galaxy goalkeeper Dan Kennedy couldn't secure a Pontius header off a corner kick and Rosenberry pounced on the rebound, with a little help from Sebastien Le Toux helping to jar the ball loose.
"It's thrilling," Rosenberry said. "Obviously there wasn't too much to the finish, but I mean, right place, right time. It's just a matter of being aggressive in the box and it happened to fall right where I was."
The Union kept their foot on the gas from there with Nogueira, Ilsinho and Fabinho all putting shots just wide. Rosenberry also had a good look on net in the final minutes. Meanwhile, the Galaxy, who outscored the Union 13-3 during the club's previous three matchups, looked at times to be stalling and packing it in to escape Philly with a point.
"I know Philadelphia played well and you can see that they were a little bit more rested than us, which makes a difference," Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena said. "We changed six players from our game on Sunday, so I give our guys credit to deal with the travel and getting the point and playing against a rested team. Overall, I think we have to be pleased to leave with a point."
Long before the second-half drama, the Union enjoyed a dream start, jumping ahead 1-0 only four minutes into the game when Nogueira scored his first goal of the season. There were no assists on the play but Fabinho got it started with a cross that C.J. Sapong got a piece of, leading to a scramble in the box -- which Nogueira finished after an initial attempt was blocked.
The Galaxy tied the game only 11 minutes later on a brilliant counter-attack as they strung a series of sharp passes together, none better than Robbie Keane's through ball to dos Santos, who proceeded to twist Fabinho into a pretzel. Dos Santos, celebrating his 27th birthday Wednesday, then left it off for Rogers, who blasted home his first of the season to quiet the crowd.
The game remained tied at 1-1 until halftime despite some great free kicks from Barnetta that the Union couldn't quite get on the end of and a prime chance right before the whistle that Pontius nodded over the bar.
"We wanted to show the rest of the league what we can do," Pontius said. "They scored two pretty good goals but I thought we had the better play tonight."
The Union will have a chance to make another statement Saturday when they head north of the border to face Montreal on Saturday (5 p.m./TCN) in a battle between two teams near the top of the Eastern Conference.
Until then, they'll take a lot out of Wednesday's draw, even though Curtin admitted this team isn't about "moral victories" anymore.
"We have a good thing going right now," the Union coach said. "If we keep our level like this, more times than not, we'll come away with three points."
