and it came thanks to an ageless wonder.
The Fire took the lead after 37 minutes through Jim Curtin, after a corner kick was headed down by Tony Sanneh, off a Fire teammate and to Curtin's feet, and he quickly lashed it home.
But 10 minutes from the end, Preki -- six days shy of his 42nd birthday -- raced onto the end of a fine ball from Chris Klein as the Wizards broke on the counter, and after setting up both defender and goalkeeper in the area coolly slotted home inside the left-hand post for his first goal since the 2003 season.
At Spartan Stadium, the Earthquakes started a three-game home run -- all against conference opposition -- with a dominating performance, scoring three goals in the opening 34 minutes to ease to victory.
Mark Chung gave the Quakes the lead after just two minutes, a neat one-two on the left leading to a perfect low cross from Brad Davis, and Chung swooped in to turn it home from close range.
Kelly Gray -- the San Jose native in his Earthquakes debut after being acquired from the Chicago Fire - then doubled the lead when he finished off a big one-two with Ronald Cerritos, racing forward from his right back position to collect the return pass and clipping it home from inside the area (13).
Left back Wade Barrett then made it 3-0 with a similar goal, racing forward to collect the return ball on yet another long-distance give-and-go, acrobatically getting onto the end a Cerritos early cross hooked into the area (34).
At The Home Depot Center, Jeff Cunningham hit for his first professional hat trick as the Rapids prised open the Chivas defense time and again on their way to a second victory in a week, after just two in their first 12 games.
Cunningham opened his and the Rapids account on the half-hour, a quick turnover leading to a counter before he lashed home a drive from just outside the area. He then doubled the score just after the hour mark, Jean-Philippe Peguero dancing through on the right before finding Cunningham completely unmarked and he turned the ball home with a first-time shot that had a hint of offside.
Cunningham then missed a glorious chance to finish off his hat trick in the 66th minute when Brad Guzan saved his penalty kick, but he made no mistake 12 minutes later, racing onto a long throw-in to go in alone on the Chivas rookie 'keeper and neatly curl his shot inside the right-hand post.
Chivas USA pulled a goal back just before the end, Ricky Lewis adjudged to have handled the ball in the area and Thiago Martins converting from the penalty spot, sending Rapids 'keeper Joe Cannon the wrong way.
This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
