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Vide, Quaranta push United over Rapids

Aug 24, 2008 - 4:16 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Joe Vide and Santino Quaranta each scored a goal to lead D.C. United to a 3-0 triumph over the Colorado Rapids on Saturday.

Vide opened the scoring just before halftime. Luciano Emilio dropped a pass just outside the 18-yard box to Vide, who blasted a shot past Colorado goalkeeper Preston Burpo for the 1-0 lead.

"It took us a while to open them up. They started out with a 4-5-1 (formation)," United head coach Tom Soehn said. "We knew, watching the last game, we had an idea that that's how they'd come out and it's hard to play teams down so it took us a while to find our rhythm and flow."

In the 82nd minute, Quaranta recorded his third tally to double D.C. United's advantage. Emilio notched his second assist on the play as Quaranta ripped a shot to the upper left corner past the outstretched arms of Burpo.

"I know that good things happen and now I can see the rewards, it's paying off - all the hard work," Quaranta said. "(The goal) was in the 80th minute and maybe I get taken off before because I'm not doing the extra work. To be able to score is always special, it's a great feeling and even more special today."

The Rapids, who have not beaten D.C. United on the road since July 10, 1999, are 1-7-2 in away games.

"We've got a lot of experience on the team but we acted very inexperienced to start the second half," Rapids defender Mike Petke said. "We were going in the first minute like we had 10 seconds left to get that tying goal and I think that killed us. It opened up the counter-attack a lot for them. They took advantage of their finishes."

Quavas Kirk entered the game in the 87th minute for United, which outshot the Rapids, 15-8, and scored 22 seconds later. The goal was his first.

"(Bryan) Namoff just had a great header and the keeper put the ball on the ground and it just popped back up and I just ran onto it," Kirk said. "It was a wide-open net so if I had missed that I would have just put my head down and walked off the field."

Burpo and United goalkeeper Louis Crayton each had four saves.

Crayton made the save of the night minutes into the second half when he tipped a header by Nick LaBrocca over the bar to preserve United's one-goal advantage.