all by 1-0 shutouts.
• It didn't take long for United to jump into the lead. The Black-and-Red won a free kick some 30 yards straight out from goal, and Christian Gomez hammered a blast past the wall and into the upper left-hand corner past the dive of 'keeper Pat Onstad for a fourth-minute opener.
• Gomez then laid on the second for United in the 27th minute. With the ball at the top of the area, he slipped a pass to Ben Olsen coming on hard from the right, and the veteran midfielder ripped a low drive off Onstad and into the back of the net.
• In the 71st minute, Brian Ching sent a shot goalward, but it hit the arm of United defender Josh Gros -- and referee Jair Marrufo pointed to the spot. But United 'keeper Troy Perkins guessed correctly, diving to his right to palm away Dwayne De Rosario's effort.
• But the Canadian international made no mistake seconds later. He took a Craig Waibel square pass, cut back to avoid two over-committing defenders and fired home a low shot to give Dynamo new life, but they could get no closer.
• United head coach Tom Soehn made one change to the team that defeated Toronto FC the previous Saturday. With Jaime Moreno away on national team duty with Bolivia, Guy Roland-Kpene started in attack alongside Luciano Emilio.
• Here's Soehn's team (4-3-1-2); Troy Perkins - Bryan Namoff, Bobby Boswell, Facundo Erpen, Joshua Gros - Fred (Clyde Simms 77), Brian Carroll, Ben Olsen - Christian Gomez (Rod Dyachenko 89) - Luciano Emilio, Guy-Roland Kpene (Nicholas Addlery 71). Substitutes Not Used: Marc Burch, Kasali Yinka Casal, Stephen deRoux, Jay Nolly
• "The first half, I thought we came out and really took the game to them. I talked to them about how confidence stretches with teams and, with Houston failing to score, I think we could go a long way," said Soehn. "They gave us an early goal, but I thought our play, possession, Christian [Gomez] starting to get creative, find spaces - the first half, I was really impressed and we built it up and created our chances."
TEAM NEWS
• Most of the post-match talk surrounded Christian Gomez, who scored his third goal on the campaign (second in the last three games) and set up the other - the first time all season he's been involved in multiple goals for the game.
• "Teams, players go through stretches where things come hard. I mean look at Dwayne (De Rosario). He's a great player and tomorrow, he could score three goals. That's just how stretches go," Soehn said. "Christian is going to find his way. He's the MVP of the league for a reason. He's here on our team for a reason. We start to see signs of that, when he's sending our guys through, he's going to be a big piece."
• Gomez set up Olsen for his first league goal since last July 15, the 64th-minute game-winner in a 3-2 win against the Columbus Crew.
• "Playing out on the flanks, you get a little bit more joy as far as getting around the goal and getting some chances," said Olsen. "Christian made a nice, pretty little ball for me - perfect in stride, all I got to do is put that in the goal, pass it in there. I still didn't hit that great, he got some hand on it, but fortunately it snuck in."
• While United have allowed just a single goal in each of their last five games, they still do not have a shutout to show over the league campaign.
• "We haven't had any shutouts yet, so I'm not happy," Soehn said." You know, we still have a lot of learning and growing to do as a team. Anytime you bring in new faces every year, it takes a little while to get a good understanding of what our "Freds" are like. Even Rod [Dyachenko] coming in, everyone has to learn about each other a little better. Over the course of the season, you do that. You're not going to do that at the end of the season."
• Still, after a rough start to the league campaign following a promising run in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup, United has put together three consecutive wins and went unbeaten in May. "At our best? No, I think we have a long way to go," said Bobby Boswell. "It was a good step in the right direction. The more games we get, the more our true form will show. I think that our true form is good soccer and we're a good team. The longer our season, the better. Same thing with Christian -- world class player. The better he does, the better we do."
• Said Gomez: "I try to play the same way every week. Sometimes things go your way, other days they don't. But the team is playing better Saturday after Saturday and we're recovering that mystique that characterizes D.C. United and I think we'll be playing that way again."
• Jaime Moreno set up the tying goal in Bolivia's 1-1 draw with Ireland last Saturday in Foxborough, Mass., his first full international cap for more than five years. The call-up and resulting quality performance over 45 minutes could pave the way for Moreno's addition to Bolivia's Copa America squad. The South American national team championship begins June 26.
