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Namoff helps United beat Rapids

Jul 19, 2009 - 3:45 AM WASHINGTON (STATS) - Bryan Namoff isn't used to scoring goals. On Saturday night, he got two - one of which he wasn't very happy about.

Namoff bounced back from an early own goal with the tiebreaking score in the second half, lifting D.C. United over the Colorado Rapids.

Namoff's header off Christian Gomez's corner kick beat screened Rapids goalkeeper Matt Pickens in the 56th minute. The goal was the third of Namoff's 187-game MLS career.

In the 14th minute, Namoff kicked the ball into his own goal to put Colorado (6-5-6) up 1-0. Namoff was trying to keep the ball away from Conor Casey but inadvertently put it past Josh Wicks, the second own goal United (6-3-9) has allowed in the last four games.

"It's the first time I scored two goals in my career," a visibly relieved Namoff said. "I'm glad I had a chance to redeem myself."

Wicks didn't see the ball coming.

"It was a slight miscommunication, and into the back of the net," Wicks said.

D.C. United coach Tom Soehn absolved Namoff of blame.

"Own goals happen," Soehn said. "He felt responsible for the first goal and wanted to do something to make up for it."

Soehn was able to joke about the own goal afterward, saying that Namoff "had a career night."

United won for the first time in four matches by limiting the Rapids to two shots on goal and none in the second half.

"Our defense was pretty solid today," Wicks said.

Colorado fell to 0-7-4 in Washington since July 10, 1999.

United's Jaime Moreno, who had missed the last three games with a hamstring injury, came in to start the second half and scored on a penalty kick in the 47th minute to tie the game at 1-all. The goal was Moreno's sixth of the season - four coming on penalty kicks.

Pablo Mastroeni, who committed the foul that resulted in the penalty kick, was assessed a yellow card.

D.C.'s Luciano Emilio, who sat out the last two matches with a knee injury, had a goal in the 61st minute to complete the scoring.

"When we get our chances, we finished them in the second half. If we finished our chances in the first half, I'm sure there would be a lot more goals on the board," Wicks said.

The three goals allowed by Colorado were a season high.

"It's just a lapse, I guess," Pickens said. "They deserved to win. It was 15 minutes where we couldn't handle it."

Casey was given a yellow card in the 84th minute for protesting the lack of a foul call.

The Rapids were without midfielder Nick LaBrocca (strained hamstring), defender Ugo Ihemlu (caution accumulation) and midfielder Colin Clark, who is with the U.S. national team. French defender Julien Baudet made his MLS debut for Colorado.

United was missing rookie midfielder Brandon Barklage, who is out for the rest of the season after knee surgery.