Summary
Honoring fallen Houston firefighters with a jersey patch, the Dynamo appeared on their way to their first win thanks to a header from Brian Ching. Colorado got a late penalty kick chance to tie the game, but Pat Onstad stoned Conor Casey’s shot and the follow-up in an emotional play that turned the Dynamo’s season around.
Notes
The Houston Dynamo earned their first win of the 2009 season with a hard-fought 1-0 triumph over the Colorado Rapids Sunday afternoon at Robertson Stadium.
The Dynamo are now 8-2-2 all time against Colorado, led by Brian Ching’s 10 career goals against the Rapids.
Brian Ching’s goal in the 20th minute was the Dynamo’s first goal in the past 254 minutes. It was Ching’s 10th career goal against the Rapids with the Dynamo.
Colorado had a great chance to tie the game in the 84th minute, but Houston goalkeeper Pat Onstad dove to his right to save the penalty kick, then shot across to the left-hand post to stop Terry Cooke’s follow-up header.
The penalty kick stop was the first by an MLS goalkeeper this year in eight attempts and makes Onstad 5-for-16 against penalty kicks in his MLS regular season career. He also saved a penalty kick in the 2003 MLS Cup final.
Pat Onstad and the Dynamo recorded their second consecutive shutout. It was Onstad’s 52nd career shutout, which puts him in sole possession of fifth place all-time in MLS.
Dynamo defender Bobby Boswell crossed the 10,000-minute mark as a professional.
Colorado Rapids (2-2-1) vs. Houston Dynamo (1-2-2)
April 19, 2009 -- Robertson Stadium, Houston TX
Scoring Summary:
HOU -- Brian Ching 2 (Brad Davis 1, Stuart Holden 2) 20
Colorado Rapids -- Preston Burpo, Kosuke Kimura, Ugo Ihemelu, Scott Palguta, Jordan Harvey, Nick LaBrocca (Terry Cooke 68), Pablo Mastroeni, Mehdi Ballouchy, Colin Clark, Conor Casey, Omar Cummings.
Substitutes Not Used: Matt Pickens, Greg Dalby, Cory Gibbs, Ty Harden, Jacob Peterson, Gregory Richardson.
Houston Dynamo -- Pat Onstad, Richard Mulrooney, Bobby Boswell, Geoff Cameron, Wade Barrett, Brian Mullan, Ricardo Clark, Stuart Holden, Brad Davis, Brian Ching (Corey Ashe 86), Kei Kamara.
Substitutes Not Used: Danny Cruz, Andrew Hainault, Julius James, Craig Waibel, Chris Wondolowski.
Misconduct Summary:
COL -- Conor Casey (caution; Reckless Tackle) 25
COL -- Colin Clark (caution; Reckless Tackle) 28
HOU -- Ricardo Clark (caution; Reckless Tackle) 34
COL -- Pablo Mastroeni (caution; Reckless Foul) 58
HOU -- Brad Davis (caution; Reckless Tackle) 63
COL -- Omar Cummings (caution; Goalkeeper Interference) 73
gameSumLabel">Referee: Mark Geiger
gameSumLabel">Referee's Assistants: Frank Anderson; Cyril Madukanya
gameSumLabel">4th official: Landis Wiley
gameSumLabel">Attendance: 12,708
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-72-degrees
All statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial
