Quakes Beat Wizards 2-1 to Keep Unbeaten Streak Alive

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The San Jose Earthquakes extended their unbeaten streak to seven games as they took down the Kansas City Wizards tonight at Buck Shaw Stadium 2-1. Arturo Alvarez scored the first goal of the game in the 43rd minute off a cross from Ronnie O'Brien. It was Alvarez's fifth of the season and second since being traded back to the Quakes. Davy Arnaud tied the game at 1-1 when he put in a cross from Michael Harrington. Overall the Quakes created more scoring chances as they out shot the Wizards 13-10. In the 83rd minute, Darren Huckerby struck for his third goal of the season when he headed home a pass from Ryan Johnson as he collided with goalkeeper Kevin Hartman.

That locked up the victory for the Quakes and moved them out of the cellar of the Western conference by adding three more points. They surpassed the Colorado Rapids (24 points) and into a tie with the Galaxy at 25 points on the season. More importantly, the they now stand two points behind the last playoff spot currently held by Chivas USA.

San Jose Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop loved the win “It was a good three points and an important time in the season to win. I thought we played well the first half, the first 20 minutes of the second was poor, we allowed Kansas City back into the game; but is great to come back and win the game in the end. It is a sign of a good team that sticks together and doesn’t quit.” He stressed that the team has gained in confidence “We feel comfortable we can win. We have D.C. and then Houston which are two tough games, but we have confidence that we can win both. We have already played the best teams home and away and we have done ok. There is no guarantee that we are going to win every game but there is a guarantee that we are going to give everything we have and not quit and keep going.”

Yallop also talked about Darren Huckerby’s performance “I think he is really enjoying his football to be honest. You look at him off the field and around the building and he is just flying. He just wants to get the ball because every time he gets the ball he feels like he can do something. He is going to go against anybody and beat them. He was great tonight. It is very exciting to watch him, I get on the edge of my seat when he gets the ball and I am coaching.”

Earthquakes midfielder Darren Huckerby says the team is on a roll “We have been good defensively all year and that continued tonight. We have been getting forward quite well and we got the goals when we needed them tonight.” The crowd at Buck Shaw has shown very good support for the team, “They have been great. We have gotten on a nice little run here at home and we are enjoying our football and I think the fans appreciate that. We hope to keep it going the next two games at home.”

Kansas City Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo shared his thoughts on the game “It was a hard-fought game. San Jose had the better of it in the first half, but I thought that we had the better of it in the second half. There was a stretch of 20-25 minutes where we put enormous pressure on them, but we only got one goal and we really needed to get one more. It was a good effort, but we are disappointed with the result.” He also noted Huckerby's play “He gave us a lot of trouble in the first half on the left side so we made a switch out there and we did a bit better in the second half. However, he was still able to score the game-winner and make the difference. He was the best player on the field tonight.”