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Huckerby nets Earthquakes past Wizards

Aug 31, 2008 - 6:25 AM SANTA CLARA, California (Ticker) -- Darren Huckerby snapped a tie in the 83rd minute to propel the San Jose Earthquakes to a 2-1 triumph over the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday.

Arturo Alvarez opened the scoring in the 44th minute for San Jose (6-9-7).

Davy Arnaud leveled the contest in the 64th minute for Kansas City (6-8-8).

Huckerby's heroics, however, decided the match.

Francisco Lima sent a long pass across the field to a waiting Ryan Johnson, who alertly fed Huckerby for a header into the vacant net.

"I think he is really enjoying his football to be honest," San Jose Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop said of Huckerby. "You look at him off the field and around the building and he is just flying. He just wants to get the ball because every time he gets the ball he feels like he can do something. He is going to go against anybody and beat them.

"He was great tonight. It is very exciting to watch him, I get on the edge of my seat when he gets the ball and I am coaching."

For his part, Huckerby elected to deflect the praise to his mates.

"We have been good defensively all year and that continued tonight," he said. "We have been getting forward quite well and we got the goals when we needed them tonight."

The Earthquakes had the better of play in the first half - outshooting the Wizards, 4-1, before finally finding the back of the net.

Ronnie O'Brien sent a high pass over to a waiting Arturo Alvarez, who pushed it high into the net with a strong header to open the scoring.

"It was a hard-fought game. San Jose had the better of it in the first half, but I thought that we had the better of it in the second half," Wizards coach Curt Onalfo said.

"There was a stretch of 20-25 minutes where we put enormous pressure on them, but we only got one goal and we really needed to get one more. It was a good effort, but we are disappointed with the result."