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Wizards blank Earthquakes

Apr 5, 2009 - 11:37 PM KANSAS CITY, Kansas (AP) -- Aaron Hohlbein scored his first career goal, and the Kansas City Wizards beat the San Jose Earthquakes 2-0 on Sunday for their first win of the season.

Claudio Lopez also scored for Kansas City (1-2), which had given up five goals in its first two games. The Wizards outshot San Jose 12-3 and didn't force a save by Kansas City's Kevin Hartman until the 81st minute.

San Jose dropped to 1-2 on the season.

"I told the guys before the game that this was going to be a game where they would have to roll up their sleeves and fight," Wizards coach Curt Onalfo said. "It was just about mentality today. I think we did a great job today, and I thought we played well from the opening whistle."

Hohlbein's goal in the 28th minute came after two deflections in the penalty area. Jimmy Conrad recovered the first loose ball and shot from five yards, and San Jose keeper Joe Cannon was only able to deflect the ball with his chest.

It went straight to Hohlbein, who drove it into the net from point-blank range.

"It felt good," Hohlbein said. "It was a good ball played in, and it kind of bobbled around a little bit and popped out, and I happened to be right there so I just pounded it home."

Lopez made it 2-0 in the 78th minute. He took a long pass from Herculez Gomez on the left side, dribbled into the penalty area and fired a shot past Cannon from 15 yards.

"Davy (Arnaud) did a good job of laying the ball off to me," Gomez said. "I knew that with the cross wind I would have to hit it just right and put it out there in front of Claudio. I got fortunate and struck it well and put it in front of Claudio, and then he buried it."

Hartman made just one save on the night, extending his MLS records in three categories. He now has 139 career wins, 78 career shutouts and 1,140 career saves.

"We were on top of our game in really inclement conditions," Hartman said. "It's exciting for us. I'm really proud to play behind a group that plays like that. The shutout is a little bit of a bonus. We didn't give up a ton of shots, we were sound defensively, and we were winning a lot of second balls."