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Moor's goal helps FC Dallas shut out Rapids

Aug 5, 2007 - 4:23 AM FRISCO, Texas (Ticker) -- FC Dallas returned to MLS action on a positive note.

Drew Moor scored the lone goal in the first half as FC Dallas shut out the Colorado Rapids, 1-0, on Saturday night.

After going winless in three games in the SuperLiga tournament, Dallas did not have to wait too long to return to its winning ways.

"I'm very pleased with the win and I have to give a lot of credit to the boys," Dallas coach Steve Morrow said. "We had a lot of tired legs out there. We had three very tough games in SuperLiga, and we expected there was going to be some sort of hangover."

In the 31st minute, Dax McCarty lofted a free kick from 40 yards out that bounced by Colorado goaltender Bouna Coundoul right before Moor blasted a header into the left side of the net for his second goal of the season.

"It was very similar to my first goal this season," Moor said. "Dax swung in a ball to the back post, and we have a couple of different moves we can do, including leaving me on the back post to clean up. Fortunately, I was in a good spot, kinda lost my man and it was an easy tap-in."

It was the 20-year-old McCarty's fifth assist this campaign as Dallas recorded its first MLS victory since a 2-0 triumph over Chivas USA on July 4.

FC Dallas netminder Ray Burse was brilliant in net, stopping three shots on goal in his first career start. The 6-1 Burse was selected in the third round of the 2006 SuperDraft out of Ohio State.

Morrow decided to go with Burse to give starting goalkeeper Dario Sala some extra time to rest his sore knee.

"I didn't find out I was starting until I got (to the stadium)," Burse said. "We kind of had to bunker down at the end, when (Colorado) started coming at us at the end. We needed to get through that rough moment, but we did well enough and got through it."

Dallas (10-6-3) pulled to within one point of the Houston Dynamo for first place in the Western Conference. Houston dropped a 1-0 decision at Real Salt Lake on Saturday.

It was the seventh loss in the last 10 matches for the Rapids (4-9-6), who remain winless against FC Dallas in 11 regular-season meetings. Colorado has not won in the series since September 4, 2004.

With key defender Mehdi Ballouchy sitting out a one-game suspension for yellow card accumulations, Colorado went with a three-man defense to try to hold off Dallas' attack.

"One mistake costs you the game, and we didn't have enough weapons to respond," Colorado coach Fernando Clavijo said. "We couldn't score and you have to score to win games. We had five or six chances to put one in and we couldn't do that.

"If you don't create chances or don't play with heart, that's one thing, but we never gave up and kept playing hard the whole game. It amounts to more frustration, but there is nothing we can do but keep playing."