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Second-half explosion propels D.C. United to win

Sep 30, 2007 - 3:50 AM By Tim Hipps PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

WASHINGTON (Ticker) - D.C. United exploded for four second-half goals Saturday night to extend its unbeaten streak to 11 matches with a 4-1 victory over Toronto FC.

After Carl Robinson's goal gave Toronto FC a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute, D.C. United defender Marc Burch's shot from 21 yards found the net for his first goal of the season in the 52nd minute.

"All of the guys have been telling me to shoot, so it feels good to get up there where I can hit one from a spot I know and score," Burch said. "I feel like I've learned a little bit from all of the defenders and, hopefully, I'm adding to the attack."

Fred received a backpedal feed from Christian Gomez and scored with a blistering shot that bounced off the hands of sprawling Toronto FC goalkeeper Kenny Stamatopoulos for a 2-1 lead in the 57th minute.

"I saw that Jaime (Moreno) took two defenders with him when he made the run and I had a space, and I just took the opportunity and made the goal," said Fred, who later left with a strained groin. "It hurts, but I think by the next game, it will be much better. I'm going to try to play."

Moreno, Major League Soccer's all-time leading scorer, tallied the 112th goal of his career and gave D.C. United a 3-1 lead in the 66th minute.

"The second half was a totally different game," Moreno said. "It was great. At the end of the day, we worked for three points and we got it."

D.C. United forward Luciano Emilio's goal capped the scoring in the 70th minute. He blasted the carom of Gomez's shot that bounced off the crossbar into the net for a 4-1 lead.

"It was just a fortunate play off of Christian's free kick," Emilio said. "I was in the right place at the right time and I just hit it and it went in. You can't practice that. It's something that just happens in the game."

With that goal, Emilio became the first MLS player to score 20 goals in a single season since Los Angeles' Carlos Ruiz (24) and New England's Taylor Twellman (23) accomplished the feat in 2002.

His sights are set on surpassing Roy Lassiter, who set the league record with 27 goals for Tampa Bay in 1996.

"Records are made to be broken, so if I'm at 20 now, hopefully I can surpass that in the next couple of games and establish records that others may break in the future," Emilio said.