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Jewsbury lifts Wizards past Toronto FC

Sep 21, 2008 - 3:13 AM By Pat Madden PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

KANSAS CITY, Kansas (Ticker) -- A strong second half on their home pitch boosted the Kansas City Wizards to a 2-0 victory over a struggling Toronto FC side on Saturday night.

Midfielder Jack Jewsbury connected on a penalty kick in the 63rd minute to snap a scoreless draw.

Kansas City's Josh Wolff was taken down in the penalty area by Toronto's Tyrone Marshall to set up the kick.

"The guy came from behind me and got a little piece of me," Wolff said. "They made contact. We got a penalty out of it, Jack did well to finish it and we were a little fortunate on the other one."

Sixteen minutes later, Kevin Souter gave the Wizards some breathing room with his first professional goal. Souter's tally came off a header from 15 yards out and gave the Wizards an big insurance goal. Wolff and Roger Espinoza were credited with assists on the play.

"I think it was as high as his head," Souter said of the looping header. "Regardless of whether I get credit for it or not, in the end it's 2-0 and it gives us a lot of cushion at the end."

"He's a very motivated guy," Kansas City coach Curt Onalfo said. "We have a lot of confidence in him. We're using him in a role to help preserve the lead, and it's nice when you put a guy in to preserve a lead and he scores a goal to help us preserve it."

It was the Wizards' first victory of the season in three tries against Toronto FC. It also moved Kansas City (8-9-8) four points ahead of Toronto (7-12-6) in the Eastern Conference.

"It was a good team effort, that's what it came down to," Onalfo said. "It was a hard-fought win and points we needed."

Toronto FC, now 1-5-3 since the All-Star break, extended its winless streak to six straight matches. Kansas City has now won two in a row for the first time since the first two matches of the season.

"I'm very disappointed with the performance," Toronto FC coach John Carver said. "We got what we deserved, which was nothing. We looked very lackluster, we had no urgency, no creativity. It was very disappointing."

Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman faced 13 shots but did not have to make a save for his ninth shutout of the season. It was his MLS-high 76th career clean sheet.

Goalkeeper Greg Sutton made three saves for Toronto, which fell to 2-10-0 on the road this season.