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Noonan, Ralston too much as Revolution tops FC Dallas

Sep 16, 2007 - 2:45 AM FOXBORO, Massachusetts (Ticker) -- Pat Noonan and Steve Ralston combined for three goals to lead the New England Revolution to a 4-2 win over FC Dallas on Saturday.

Noonan got the scoring started in the 24th minute when he blasted a shot past FC Dallas goalkeeper Dario Sala off the pass from Khano Smith.

With the scored tied at 1-1, Ralston fed Noonan for the forward's second goal of the night. Two minutes prior to that, Ralston missed Taylor Twellman with a centering pass for a potential scoring chance.

Ralston gave his club some insurance in the 78th minute, following his own shot and drilling a deflection from Sala into the back of the net and a 3-1 lead.

"Obviously, we felt like we played pretty well tonight and, to get the result, it was (much)-needed," Ralston said. "We needed a good performance."

The Revolution (12-6-6, 42 points), who won for the fourth time in their last five contests, sits comfortably in second place of the Eastern Conference, seven points behind D.C. United (15-6-4, 49 points).

"We need to get back to clean sheets," Revolution assistant coach Paul Mariner said. "It's all about possession of the ball, and as you can see, the quality of the league is improving."

Carlos Ruiz scored both goals for FC Dallas (12-8-3, 39 points), which stands in third place in the Western Conference, three points behind Houston (12-7-6, 42 points) and four points behind Chivas USA (13-6-4, 43 points).

"I think we were comfortable for the first 45 minutes," FC Dallas coach Steve Morrow said. "We defended well as a unit and that (was) important for us tonight. We just had a breakdown on both ends in the second half."