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SAN JOSE, Calif. –
In just the third home match of the 2005 MLS campaign, the San Jose Earthquakes welcomed the Kansas City Wizards to San Jose for an early season clash at Spartan Stadium.
San Jose, posting a 0-1-2 record heading into the match, dropped a 2-1 road loss to the Chicago Fire just a week earlier, continuing their winless streak through the first three games.
The Wizards, entering their second game of back-to-back road matches, were coming off of a 2-2 draw against the New York/New Jersey MetroStars and were aiming to finish their first road trip of the season on a high note.
It didn't take long for the game's first goal as Kansas City Wizards' forward Scott Sealy placed his shot past Quakes goalkeeper Pat Onstad for an early 1-0 lead in the 5th minute.
It only took nine minutes for Quakes veteran Ronald Cerritos to equalize after converting off of a driven long-ball from defender Craig Waibel. After swinging the ball along the San Jose backline, Waibel picked his head up and lofted a ball up toward the right flank. After holding his run in anticipation of Waibel's service, Cerritos raced to the edge of the six-yard box and buried his shot through the legs
Wizards' goalkeeper Bo Oshoniyi.
The back and forth scoring continued towards the end of the first half as Chris Klein put the Wizards ahead in the 34th minute. Kansas City midfielder Keery Zavagnin picked off the Quakes in the midfield and drove a ball ahead of the darting run of Klein. With just Onstad to beat, Klein placed his shot to the near post, giving Kansas City their second one-goal advantage of the game.
In the waning moments of the first half, San Jose pulled a goal back off of the head of forward Brian Ching. With a free kick positioned outside of the box, midfielder Brad Davis whipped in a looping service toward the edge of the six. Anticipating the flight path of the ball, Ching timed his run to connect with the ball in mid-air before powering his header past Oshoniyi.
Dwayne De Rosario, a two-time MLS champion with the club, earned his first start of the season that night and made it one to remember in the 57th minute. After a combination play in the middle of the park between Cerritos and Ching, Ching layed off a square ball toward De Rosario who took off towards goal. With two prep touches en route to the top of the box, De Rosario wound up and struck a shot across his body and past Oshoniyi to the goal's back post.
De Rosario's goal would be the difference as the Quakes held on for a 3-2 win, their first of the season. Quakes goalkeeper Pat Onstad was called to action countless times throughout the match, tallying a game-high six saves to preserve the club's victory. The win jump-started an MLS-best 18-4-10 record on the season and propelled San Jose to a 2005 Supporters Shield title.
