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Burciaga scores late to lift Wizards past Crew

May 5, 2007 - 8:27 PM KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Jose Burciaga picked the perfect time to score his first goal of the season.

Burciaga scored in the 90th minute and Kevin Hartman recorded another shutout as the Kansas City Wizards posted a 1-0 victory over the Columbus Crew on Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium.

After recording eight goals last season, Burciaga had one assist through Kansas City's first four games. He waited nearly as long as he could Saturday before breaking a scoreless tie that the Wizards had dominated for the most part.

"We prepared our guys, they knew it would take 90 minutes," Wizards coach Curt Onalfo said. "They're a team that gets numbers behind the ball, they foul you, they frustrate you. They've got a workmanlike mentality. Give our guys all the credit in the world, it took them 90 minutes and they didn't get frustrated. A great three points."

"Curt said at halftime that it was going to take one goal in the 90th minute to win," Burciaga said. "He told us to stay patient with each other, and someone's going to have to step up. I put myself in the right position. I took one touch to the side and they backed off and that helped me out to get the shot off."

Burciaga gained control of the ball near the top of the penalty area and deftly dribbled between three Columbus defenders before rocketing a low left-footed shot to the far corner past Andy Gruenebaum.

"I knew if I got an opportunity to get a shot off, I could," Burciaga said. "They bit and went right. It worked out. They backed off and I got off a shot."

Kansas City then had to hold off Columbus through four minutes of injury time to win for the fourth time in five matches this season.

Gruenebaum, a first year starter, entered the game tied for the league lead with three shutouts.

Hartman is having a solid start to the season as well. After spending 10 seasons with the Los Angeles Galaxy, Hartman is proving to be a good fit for the Wizards as he recorded his third consecutive clean sheet with the shutout of Columbus and has gone 287 minutes without allowing a goal.

"Anytime you're getting 1-0 wins, it says a lot about your commitment to winning," Hartman said. "For us to get two of those in a row puts us ahead of where we want to be right now."

Columbus was outshot, 15-4, in being handed its first loss of the season.

"I thought they did a better job on the attack than we did," Columbus coach Sigi Schmid said. "They were better at holding the ball and putting some pressure on us. Our attackers didn't do a good job of holding on to the ball. In the first 20 minutes, we got behind Burciaga a few times, but then our guys didn't do anything with it."

The Crew did manage a few chances once newly acquired forward Guillermo Barros Schelotto came on as a substitute in the 65th minute

The former Boca Juniors standout forced Hartman to make a save on a solid chance in the 73rd minute, and in the 78th minute Schelotto took the ball from a pair of Kansas City defenders but Hartman was able to make a near-post save and preserve the shutout.

"He made some things happen," Schmid said. "He's still got to get used to the play in this league. He's got to get used to us and he's got to get used to the league."