Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - The New York Red Bulls and Toronto FC battled to a 1-1 draw at BMO field in a Major League Soccer clash on Thursday night.

Toronto's Marco Velez opened the scoring with New York's Dave van den Bergh adding the equalizer. Both goals in the game came on free kicks.

Toronto FC got the game's first goal just 22 minutes in when Laurent Robert bent a free kick from the left side into the penalty area to defender Velez, who headed home for his first MLS goal.

It was the third consecutive game in which TFC scored a goal off a set piece with Amado Guevara and Robert scoring in consecutive weeks before Thursday night's fixture.

New York got the equalizer seven minutes before the first half break when Juan Pablo Angel played a ball off the hand of TFC defender Tyrone Marshall just outside the TFC box. Van den Bergh fired the resulting free kick just to the left of the defensive wall, just out of the reach of Greg Sutton's fingertips.

The goal stopped a scoreless streak of 259 minutes by Sutton, with the last goal against being scored by the Los Angeles Galaxy's Landon Donovan on April 13.

GAME NOTES: New York Red Bulls midfielder Claudio Reyna left at halftime with an apparent leg injury. ... New York's Dane Richards and Hunter Freeman made their season debuts, with Freeman starting and Richards coming on as a substitute in the 55th minute. ... Toronto's goal was the first it has scored in the first 30 minutes of a game this season. ... New York leads the all-time series between the two clubs 2-1-1.