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Wondolowski aims to stay hot against Houston

Mar 16, 2012 - 6:33 PM San Francisco, CA (Sports Network) - San Jose Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski picked up where he left off at the end of last season, scoring the lone goal for the 'Quakes in a 1-0 victory against the New England Revolution to start the new campaign.

Having scored in the final five games of last season, Wondolowski will attempt to equal the record of seven straight games with a goal by putting one past the Houston Dynamo at AT&T Park on Saturday.

The record was set in 1997 by Raul Diaz Arce, and equaled by Wolde Harris and Carlos Ruiz.

Both teams secured 1-0 wins to start the campaign, but San Jose head coach Frank Yallop sounded more relieved than anything after his team began the season with three points.

"Last year, we would have most probably, if not definitely, conceded a late goal," Yallop said. "All in all, just really pleased to get the three points, get this game out of the way and just move on and look forward to the rest of the season. I said during the week it's like a cup final to us, and we won the cup final. So now we can build on it."

The 'Quakes kept only seven clean sheets last season, so beginning the year with one is a major plus, despite the fact that the win over New England may not have come in the most stylish fashion.

"At the end of the day, it's three points," said San Jose goalkeeper Jon Busch. "It wasn't pretty, especially in the second half. They threw a lot at us, but we kept our shape, we kept our organization, and they didn't have too many quality looks."

Houston also won despite a less-than memorable effort, but the 1-0 win at Chivas USA is a big positive considering that it took the club 16 games to record its first away win last term.

Andre Hainault's 92nd-minute goal was required for the Dynamo to claim the win, although it wasn't because of a lack of chances that the goal came so late.

Chivas goalkeeper Dan Kennedy did well to keep his side in the game, especially in the second half, but Houston head coach Dominic Kinnear came out of last weekend's game pleased with his team's performance.

"If you're not creating chances it does cause worry but with the chances we created tonight we were due for a goal, but sometimes the goalkeeper's having a good day," Kinnear said. "All in all I think it was a big positive for us."