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Dynamo 3, Earthquakes 1

May 24, 2009 - 4:18 AM HOUSTON (STATS) - Brian Ching scored in the fourth minute, and Kei Kamara added a goal in the 12th to lead the Dynamo to a 3-1 win over the Earthquakes on Saturday night, extending Houston's unbeaten streak to six games.

"The team was really great, especially in the first 20 minutes," said Houston coach Dominic Kinnear. "We really attacked the balls great on set pieces. We really hit the ball well and gave ourselves some opportunities to score some goals and I thought we were pretty good defensively tonight.

"It is a good competition with these guys, it was a physical game and for whatever reason, I think the competitive energy raises when we play these guys."

San Jose (1-6-2), however, is winless in its last seven games (0-5-2) and dropped its fourth straight match. San Jose's only win this season came at home against Houston on March 28.

"We worked really hard on not conceding on set plays," San Jose head coach Frank Yallop said. "In the last two games, it's four goals on set pieces so its tough to take."

Set pieces doomed the Earthquakes as Houston scored all three of its goals off set pieces.

Ching scored off a direct kick by Brad Davis in the fourth minute. Ching received a nice pass from Davis just left of the center box about eight yards out and headed it into the left net for a 1-0 lead.

Kamara followed eight minutes later with a header of his own off a corner kick by Davis. Kamara, a former San Jose Earthquake, headed it into the right net from just inside the 6-yard box.

Houston and San Jose have been involved in a heated rivalry since San Jose, which is where Houston moved from before the 2006 season, rejoined the league last year.

Kamara and San Jose defender Nick Garcia have been fighting since Kamara was in San Jose. Before Saturday's game Garcia called Kamara a "mental midget" in a San Jose publication.

Houston players called the words bulletin board material.

"They were trying to get to him, but Kei made it a point to punish them in other ways," Ching said. "But if dummy (Garcia) wants to keep talking, well, I don't think he has any room to talk if you look at their record. It's that and the way we felt coming off the field when we were there.

"We lost that game and we feel like we are a better team than then. We needed to come out and prove it tonight. It's one of those things, especially for me, I wanted to blow them out."

Davis has assists in a team-record five straight games.

Craig Waibel added a goal in the 51st minute off a corner kick by Davis, extending the lead to 3-0.

Ryan Johnson scored his fourth goal in the 53rd minute to cut the deficit to 3-1.

San Jose has allowed a league-high 19 goals this season and dropped to 0-6 when it allows the first goal.

"Our team isn't going to give up," Johnson said. "We have a group of guys fighting for our careers in this league and everyone is fighting."