• Recap
• Bleachers

Noonan, Revolution top Wizards

Aug 3, 2007 - 2:03 AM FOXBORO, Massachusetts (Ticker) -- Pat Noonan gave himself quite the 27th birthday present as his goal helped the New England Revolution maintain the top spot in the Eastern Conference standings with a 2-0 victory over the Kansas City Wizards on Thursday.

Noonan received a pass from Taylor Twellman and blasted a shot past Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman as he fell out of bounds in the 55th minute for his fifth goal of the season.

"You get Pat in the box, and he's a handful, you don't know what he's going to do," Revolution coach Steve Nicol said. "We've had him for four years and we're still not sure which way he's going to go."

"I'm getting my legs back and I feel good out there and confident," said Noonan, who has scored in each of the last three games. "It's just bouncing the right way right now, and hopefully it stays that way. Goals come and go, but right now they're coming."

New England (9-3-6, 33 points) now holds a four-point advantage over Kansas City (8-6-5, 29 points) in the standings.

"Unfortunately, every time we're playing for first place, we haven't done as well as we would have liked to," Hartman said. "We need to make sure that we understand that they don't name first place until the end of the season, so we've got to keep a broader picture in mind and make sure we give a solid effort each week."

The Wizards were looking to take over first place in the Eastern Conference with a win, but Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis and the rest of the defense shut them down. Reis made five saves en route to his seventh shutout in 2006 and 39th of his career.

"We really bottled them up and contained them really well," Reis said. "This game we really limited their chances and limited their services."

Adam Cristman subbed into the game in the 85th minute for New England and quickly provided his team with an insurance goal in stoppage time, assisted by team captain Steve Ralston.

New England nearly tacked on another goal but Hartman made a spectacular save while lying on his back on Andy Dorman's shot in the 58th minute.

The first 45 minutes were highlighted by the play of Hartman, who made four clutch saves to ensure both teams went into the break scoreless.