A strong collective performance and a brace from Perry Kitchen weren’t enough to secure a victory on Saturday, as D.C. United squandered a two-goal lead and settled for a 2-2 draw against the archrival New York Red Bulls at RFK Stadium.

It was a banner night for Kitchen, a defensively-oriented midfielder who notched his first two goals of 2015 (the eighth and ninth of his five-year career)—an effort that stood out enough to get him called up for U.S. National Team duty this week.

“He was great,” United head coach Ben Olsen said after the match. “Take the goals out of it and I still think it was his best night. His composure on the ball and the way he moved around was much better. I was really pleased with his performance.”

After the two teams parried back and forth during early action, United opened the scoring on a set piece during the 26th minute. Defender Taylor Kemp delivered a deftly-struck corner kick right into the middle of the six-yard box, where Kitchen out-jumped Red Bulls’ goalkeeper Luis Robles to head in his first goal.

The 1-0 score held well into the second half. In the 67th minute, United’s Chris Rolfe put the New York defense on its heels with some clever dribbling up the left sideline and toward the top of the penalty arc. There, the midfielder laid the ball off to a streaking Kitchen, who sent a low, right-footed shot from 23 yards out into the bottom-left corner of the goal.

With the crowd of 16,304 still celebrating, the Red Bulls pulled one back less than a minute later, as defender Damien Perrinelle headed in Felipe’s curling corner kick.

Luis Silva, who decided last week’s match against Orlando with a stoppage-time free-kick, had a similar opportunity to finish off New York in the 76th minute. This time, his well-struck free kick from 24 yards appeared to have Robles beat, but was cleared off the line by Red Bulls’ captain Dax McCarty.

In the 90th minute, United surrendered the equalizer when goalkeeper Bill Hamid (who otherwise had a solid game with five saves) was unable to cleanly secure a free kick from the Red Bulls’ Sacha Klejestan. The ball bounced forward a few yards off Hamid’s hands and onto the right foot of a hard-charging Lloyd Sam, who opportunistically banged it into the back of the net to earn New York a draw.

Despite the frustrating finish, Olsen praised United’s overall performance as one of their finest of the young season. “It’s twofold,” he said. “Obviously there’s disappointment in not getting the result we wanted tonight. But, it was a good night.”

“Ironically I thought overall it was a step forward for us. We have to learn from some of the mistakes we made that cost us points. If we can take a large chunk of that game and build off it I think we are in good shape. There was a lot more good than bad in that game. It’s probably the best we played this year from a soccer and a mentality standpoint, so we will learn from it. It’s disappointing, but we will move on to the game next week.”

After Saturday’s draw, United remains two points ahead of the second-place Red Bulls in MLS’ Eastern Conference standings. The teams’ annual Atlantic Cup competition will be decided in a rubber match in New York on August 30.

The Black and Red next return to action this Saturday, when they host the Houston Dynamo at RFK Stadium.