Last Match
Earthquakes 1, Los Angeles Galaxy 1; Saturday, October 31, 2005; Spartan Stadium; San Jose, Calif.
The San Jose Earthquakes saw the best regular season in club history come to a premature end Saturday night, as the Los Angeles Galaxy eliminated the Quakes from the MLS Cup Playoffs by a 4-2 aggregate goal total following a 1-1 at Spartan Stadium. The Galaxy won the first game of the home-and-home total goal series 3-1 on October 22, and were able to hold on for the series win despite a desperate San Jose attack that out-shot L.A. 18-6. A first half Brian Ching goal was not enough for the top-seeded Quakes, who lost in the Western Conference Semifinals for the second straight season. The Earthquakes started the game pressing to make up a two-goal deficit, but it was the Galaxy who had the first scoring chance of the game in just the second minute. Landon Donovan ran onto a long ball and knocked it over Quakes goalkeeper Pat Onstad just wide of the goal. The Quakes then began a steady attack, as Ching headed a Mark Chung corner kick from the left side dangerously toward the goal, but L.A. goalkeeper Kevin Hartman was able to punch it away. In the 14th minute, Dwayne De Rosario volleyed a perfect cross from Brian Mullan from 20 yards in front of goal just over the crossbar. The Quakes continued to pour on the attack, with Wade Barrett whipping in a cross from the left side in the 27th minute that De Rosario also volleyed over the goal. San Jose finally broke through with the first goal of the game in the 42nd minute, taking a 1-0 advantage in the game and closing the Galaxy's total goal lead in the series to 3-2 on a Ching header. Hartman cleared the ball out of his goal box directly to Mullan on the right side. Mullan lofted a perfect cross behind the Galaxy defense to a diving Ching, who headed the ball down and past Hartman, as the Quakes went into the half with a 1-0 lead. Desperately trying to tie the series, the Quakes bombarded the Galaxy net to start the second half, as Ching got onto the ball and slid a low cross to the near left post that Moreno touched wide of the net in the 48th minute. In the 57th minute, Mullan sent a perfect cross from the right side to Ching in the penalty area, but Hartman saved his header. A three-minute flurry in the second half changed the game, as the Quakes had three great opportunities starting in the 64th minute on a header from Ching, a Moreno shot and a volley by Mark Chung. Despite the persistent San Jose attack, it was the Galaxy that broke through in the 67th minute when Ned Grabavoy tied the game with a goal, giving L.A. a 4-2 aggregate goal advantage. The Galaxy won the ball in midfield, and Peter Vagenas hit Donovan with a pass. Donovan then threaded a ball through the Quakes defense to an on-rushing Grabavoy in the right side of the penalty area, who settled the ball and popped it past Onstad. The Quakes valiantly attempted to get back into the game desperately trying to salvage the greatest regular season in team history. Hartman saved a De Rosario blast from the top of the 18-yard box in the 81st minute, and then saved a Kevin Goldthwaite free kick in stoppage time. Goldthwaite sent the ball into the area, where Ching headed toward goal. Ronald Cerritos lunged to it, but Hartman knocked it away. A minute later, Eddie Robinson headed down a corner kick that Danny Califf tried to flick on goal, but Hartman blocked it.
Misc. Notes
MLS Cup Playoff Round-Up
Four teams remain in the MLS Cup Playoffs, with the Los Angeles Galaxy defeating the Quakes and advancing to the Western Conference Championship game. Los Angeles will meet the Colorado Rapids on Saturday, November 5 at 6:00 p.m. PT in Denver after the Rapids downed second seeded FC Dallas in a penalty kick shootout. In the Eastern Conference Championship, the New England Revolution, who squeaked by the MetroStars in the first round, host the third seeded Chicago Fire, 4-0 winners over DC United. The winner of the Conference Championship Games will advance to the MLS Cup Final on Sunday, November 13 at 12:30 p.m. PT in Frisco, Texas live on ABC.
Earthquakes Announce Team Award Winners
The San Jose Earthquakes presented the 2005 team awards on Saturday in a pre-game ceremony. Midfielder Dwayne De Rosario led the way as he earned the Budweiser Golden Boot and the team's Honda Most Valuable Player award. Pat Onstad was named the Earthquakes Defensive Player of the Year, while Craig Waibel was the team's U.S. Soccer Foundation Humanitarian of the Year for the third consecutive season. In two locally sponsored awards, Brian Mullan earned the California Customs award and Eddie Robinson received the Geneva McAlavey Community Outreach award for the second straight year.
Earthquakes To Host Final Media Luncheon Of 2005
The San Jose Earthquakes announced that the final media luncheon of 2005 will be held on Tuesday, November 1 at 1:15 p.m. PT at Maggiano's Little Italy in Santana Row. The Quakes will announce the Maggiano's Earthquakes Player of the Month and the Earthquakes Goal of the Month for October. Head coach Dominic Kinnear and all the players and coaches will be available for interviews at the luncheons. Maggiano's is located at 3055 Olin Ave at Santana Row in San Jose.
Down In Playoffs
For the second straight season, the Quakes saw their season come to an end in the Western Conference Semifinals. Since MLS changed the playoff format to the current aggregate goal format prior to the 2003 season, the Quakes became the first top-seeded team from the Western Conference to not advance to MLS Cup. In 2004, the Columbus Crew were the Supporter's Shield winners and number one club in the Eastern Conference, but were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.
Two-Goal Deficits In Playoffs
For the third year in a row, Game Two of the Quakes playoff series featured a two-goal deficit. In 2003, San Jose fell 2-0 in Game One of the series, but in 2004 the Earthquakes earned a 2-0 victory in Game One over the Kansas City Wizards. This year, San Jose lost 3-1 in Game One to the Galaxy and for the first time, the winner of Game One reached the Western Conference Championship. Against the Galaxy in 2003, the Quakes came back from that 2-0 deficit, and a 4-0 deficit overall, to win Game Two 5-2 in overtime to move on to the next round. Last year, the Wizards overcame the 2-0 deficit with a 3-0 second leg win to win 3-2 on aggregate and move on to the Western Conference Championship. Despite scoring first in the 42nd minute of Game Two, the Quakes could not rebound from the two-goal hole and were eliminated, 4-2 on aggregate.
Playoff Debut
Earthquakes rookie defender Kevin Goldthwaite made his MLS Cup Playoff debut on Saturday against L.A., entering the game as a substitute in the 74th minute. In the regular season, Goldthwaite appeared in three games, registering one assist.
Ching Strikes First In Playoffs
Earthquakes forward Brian Ching scored his first playoff goal in six career postseason appearances, diving and heading home the Quakes only goal of the game Saturday in the 42nd minute.
Record Turnout At Spartan
The Earthquakes attracted 17,824 fans to Spartan Stadium for Saturday's Western Conference Semifinal Game Two against the Los Angeles Galaxy. The crowd was the largest in the Quakes eight game playoff history, and was the second biggest crowd of the 2005 MLS Cup Playoffs, trailing only DC United.
Playoff Games At Spartan Stadium
Since 1996, the Quakes have posted a 6-1-1 record at Spartan Stadium in the playoffs and outscored opponents 20-7 in those seven games.
2005 Spartan Stadium Dominance
The Earthquakes made MLS history on October 8 tying Real Salt Lake 2-2 and becoming the first team in the ten-year history of the league to go unbeaten at home throughout the regular season. The Quakes finished the 2005 regular season with a 9-0-7 record at Spartan Stadium, and remained unbeaten in the playoffs, tying the Galaxy 1-1 on October 29.
Quakes Overall In The Playoffs
The Earthquakes own an overall 10-8-1 record in the MLS Cup Playoffs, with 32 goals scored and 26 allowed in those 19 games. San Jose won the MLS Cup Championship in 2001 and 2003, both times beating the Galaxy en route to the title. In 2001, the Quakes defeated the Galaxy 2-1 in overtime of the MLS Cup Final, while in 2003 San Jose rallied from a 4-0 aggregate goal deficit to beat Los Angeles 5-4 in the Western Conference Semifinal series. In 1996, the Galaxy eliminated the Earthquakes two games to one in a three game series.
Record Home Unbeaten Streak Rolls Along
The Quakes finished the 2005 regular season on an 18-game unbeaten streak at Spartan Stadium, as they have not lost since Sept. 8, 2004 in their home stadium. The streak is now the longest home-unbeaten streak in team and league history. The club had two 15-game unbeaten streaks at Spartan (8/21/99 - 7/4/00 and 8/25/01 - 9/7/02). San Jose set the MLS record for most consecutive games at home without a loss, breaking the Galaxy's record of 17. The Galaxy's record was set from 7/4/04 - 7/16/05. The Quakes have posted a 9-0-9 record at Spartan during the streak.
Goalkeeper Of The Year Onstad Completes Incredible Regular Season
Quakes goalkeeper Pat Onstad earned the 2005 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year award for completing one of the best seasons by a goalkeeper in MLS history, as the Canadian international recorded a league high 12 shutouts in 2005, and registered his 27th career MLS shutout to become the Earthquakes all-time leader in shutouts, surpassing Joe Cannon's 26 San Jose shutouts. Onstad finished the regular season as the league leader in shutouts, goals against average (0.97), wins (18) and save percentage (77.2). Onstad's twelve shutouts are the second most ever recorded in a single MLS season, and he put together the longest home shutout streak in club history, going 537 minutes from April 23 to July 23 without giving up a goal at Spartan Stadium.
Fewest Losses In MLS History
The Quakes set another incredible record in 2005, losing just four times through the 32 game regular season. The Quakes finish of only four losses breaks the MLS record for fewest losses in a season, beating the old record of five previously held by the 2001 Miami Fusion and the 2004 Columbus Crew. However, the Fusion played only 26 games in 2001 and the Crew played 30 games in 2004.
Quakes Unbeaten Run A Team Record
The Earthquakes finished the regular season with a 14-game unbeaten run. The Quakes last regular season loss came on July 15 against D.C. United. The team's previous record was a 12-game unbeaten streak was set from April 28, 2001 - July 4, 2001 when they posted a 7-0-5 record. San Jose went 11-0-3 in their last 14 games and 15-1-6 in their past 22 games. The all-time MLS record undefeated streak is 19 games, set by the Columbus Crew from 6/26/04 - 4/2/05, and the Crew posted a 9-0-10 record for 37 points during that streak. The Quakes posted 11 wins during their streak and 36 points.
Kinnear's Winning Percentage
Earthquakes head coach Dominic Kinnear's regular season career winning percentage is .605 following the Quakes 2005 campaign. Kinnear is now second all-time in MLS in winning percentage, trailing only Bruce Arena, who has a .635 percentage.
Dominating On The Road
The Earthquakes finished the regular season on a six game road-winning streak. That winning streak marks a team record for consecutive road wins by the team. The team's previous record of four was accomplished from Sept. 13, 1998 - April 17, 1999. The Quakes started the streak with a win over the Colorado Rapids on July 20.
Goal Difference Record
The Quakes scored 53 goals in 2005 and allowed only 31 in the regular season. The team finished the regular season with a plus-22 goal difference, smashing the previous team record for goal difference in a season of 18, set in 2001 when the team scored 47 goals and allowed 29.
Tough D
The Quakes led MLS in 2005 with the fewest goals allowed (31). The Earthquakes also had the best goals against average (0.97). The Earthquakes 12 shutouts in 2005 are a new team record. The Earthquakes 31 goals allowed are just two more than the MLS single-season record of 29 that was set in 1999 by the Los Angeles Galaxy, and was equaled in 2000 by the Kansas City Wizards and in 2001 by the Earthquakes. The Quakes defense set a club record for the most road shutouts (4) in a season and tied a club record with back-to-back shutouts on the road (August 20 and September 3).
Dominating the West
The Quakes had great success against conference opponents in 2005, posting an 11-1-8 record against Western Conference foes. Their only loss against the West came on May 21 against Los Angeles (2-1). The Quakes finished the year with a 7-3-2 record against the Eastern Conference.
Tight Games
This season, San Jose had 24 of their 32 regular season games either decided by one goal or finish in a tie. Also, 19 of the 32 games that the Quakes played in 2005 entered the halftime break with the teams tied.
One-Goal Games
In 2004, San Jose had the worst record in MLS in one-goal games, posting a 2-9 record. The team turned that around in 2005, finishing 11-3 in one-goal games.
2005 League Leaders
Quakes Set Club Records In 2005
In addition to setting MLS records in 2005, several Quakes players made history and pushed their way into the San Jose record books, establishing new club records in several categories:
Quakes Above .500
The Earthquakes have now gotten their all-time MLS record above the .500 mark. The Quakes all-time regular season MLS record is 134-125-47 for 449 points. They now have the third-best regular season record in MLS history.
Making The First One Count
The Quakes scored first and beat the Galaxy 3-1 on Oct. 15 at The Home Depot Center to continue their incredible run over the past 73 games when scoring first. Dating back to the 2000 season, the Earthquakes own a 61-3-9 record in their last 73 matches when they score the first goal of the game. In 2005, San Jose remains undefeated at 14-0-5 when scoring first. The Earthquakes were 25-2-2 in 2001 and 2002 when finding the back of the net first. The Quakes only gave up leads two times in 2002, losing 2-1 to Los Angeles on July 4 and falling 2-1 to Kansas City on July 27. The team continued that trend in 2003, possessing an 11-0-1 mark in the regular season when they scored the first goal. In 2004, the Quakes went 8-1-1 when scoring first, the top mark in MLS. The Quakes gave up their lead and lost to Los Angeles on July 4, 2004 for the first time since July 27, 2002 against Kansas City. The Quakes are also impressive in the playoffs when scoring first, posting a 6-0-1 record.
