Big 3-1 Win Tonight Over New England

The crowd was great, the play was great. We generated a season-high 21 shots and scored a season-high three goals. Lots of props to the crowd tonight in the post-match quotes. Thanks to all of you that came out for our 3rd straight sellout, our 5th of the season. The sellout in a pair of back-to-back games, with the U.S. National Team playing last Saturday and the Royals playing at home tonight is a testament to all of you that come out to the park! Enjoy the notables below. There are a lot, and a lot of interesting ones. Now it's on to SuperLiga. Don't forget to go to Planet Sub tomorrow for the Hat Trick Special. Mention the promotion and you'll receive a Planet Sub Sandwich, chips and a cookie for just $3.

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS HEAD COACH CURT ONALFO
On the game
“I thought we moved the ball very well. We played good soccer tonight. We had good movement off the ball and precision on our passing. I thought we played well for 90 minutes. We have to have a better record at home, and I think that’s starting to come together. We’re happy to get the three points. We needed three points.

On the high number of shots (38) in the last two games
“We’ve strived to get some consistency. I think our movement is much better. We’ve been moving off the ball extremely well over the last four or five games. The result didn’t come last weekend, but we didn’t make any lineup changes and the guys responded tonight.”

On Davy Arnaud’s goal
“It was pretty. It was good soccer. Those guys all have the ability to do that. Davy’s played his best soccer in the middle of the field. That’s forced Jack to play wide and Jack’s done a good job there too.”

On the sellout crowd at CommunityAmerica Ballpark
“Our fans have been great all year at home. They really got behind the team tonight and helped us to a 3-1 win. Every game, the stands are full and they’re loud all match long. That’s why we love to play here. Our fans really push us to do well.”

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS DEFENDER JIMMY CONRAD
On the game
“We came out well tonight. We put an emphasis prior to the game on trying to get after them. The first goal was a great goal. We let them back into the game with the goal to make it 1-1. That was disappointing. We take a lot of pride in defending set pieces. After they got the red card, we took advantage of being up a man and we put them away by halftime.”

On the importance of this win
“We talked before the game that if we put the work in now it’s going to make our life easier down the line, as opposed to the last few years waiting until the last few games trying to make the playoffs. We put a big emphasis on that, plus we knew we weren’t going to have any league play for about two weeks and teams are going to have 2-3 games to try and catch us. We wanted to create some cushion between us and some of the other teams, and I thought we did a good job of doing that tonight.”

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS DEFENDER AARON HOHLBEIN
On his goal
“It was a good corner by Claudio. Josh popped it do the near post and after the deflection Jimmy was there. He put himself and headed it back across. I was in the right place at the right time and I was able to capitalize.”

On the game
“We knew we had to come in and fight tonight. We really needed the three points. It was going to take a strong effort both defensively and offensively. Everyone chipped in and worked hard on the defensive side of the ball. New England has some good attacking guys, and I thought our shape was pretty good and we worked hard for each other.”

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS MIDFIELDER DAVY ARNAUD
On his goal
“Herculez slipped me a nice ball. I saw Claudio pull out wide, and I slipped to him and I tried to get myself into the box and get into a good spot, and Claudio played a great ball for me to finish.”

On the crowd
“We love playing here at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in front of the Cauldron and the rest of our fans. They are behind us every game and are always loud. We love winning here and sending them home happy.”

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION HEAD COACH STEVE NICOL
On the game
“There is not a lot of good coming out of tonight. There was a stupid red card. Darrius Barnes got booked for a great tackle. Well, that's not why we lost the game. We lost because we weren't very good. We have no excuses, we didn't do well.”

On trying to come back down 3-1
“Being a man down and 3-1 down away form home. It doesn't get any harder. But I'll give the Wizards credit for the second half, we made them go outside us and didn't let them go through us. In the first half, too many balls were getting through us.”

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION FORWARD STEVE RALSTON
On the game changing because of the red card
“Yeah, obviously the game is going to change. I didn't see the play. I don't know if it was deserving of a red card or not. We need to do a better job. With 10-15 minutes left in the half, we've got to get to halftime. We just need to get back and defend. We didn't do a good job. We gave up two goals and obviously at that point, it’s a big uphill fight in the second half.

On his assist to Shalrie Joseph
“I just tried to put a dangerous ball to the back of the post. Luckily, Shalrie [Joseph] did a great job and was fortunate enough to put it in.”

On Shalrie Joseph’s play this year as a forward
“He's done really well for us this year. He's been really dangerous and getting a lot of balls in the box.”

Notables:
· Kansas City is now 5-5-4, 19 pts in a tie for 3rd place in the East with Toronto FC.
· Kansas City recorded another sellout crowd of 10,385, their 5th of the season.
· The Wizards have sold out their last three matches.
· The Wizards are 18-11-7 all-time against New England, including a 9-6-3 record at home.
· The Wizards generated a season-high 21 shots.
· Kansas City scored three goals in a game for the first time this season.
· Kansas City last scored three goals October 25, 8at New England in a 3-1 win.
· The Wizards last recorded three goals at home in a 3-2 win October 18, 2008 versus San Jose.
· Kansas City last scored three goals in a half April 5, 2008 in a 3-2 win over the Colorado Rapids at home.
· All three goals in that game came after halftime.
· Davy Arnaud scored his 5th goal of the season Saturday to open the scoring.
· Arnaud ranks 2nd on the team this season, trailing only Josh Wolff (6 goals).
· Arnaud now has 37 career goals.
· Arnaud’s 37 goals broke a tie with Wolff for 3rd place on the team’s all-time goals list.
· Arnaud trails Chris Klein by just two goals for 2nd in team history.
· Claudio Lopez recorded the assist on Arnaud’s goal, a beautiful give-and-go between the two Wizards attackers.
· Lopez now has four assists on the year, tied with Jack Jewsbury for the team lead.
· Lopez has 11 career assists since joining the Wizards last season from Racing in Argentina.
· The combination of Wolff, Arnaud and Lopez have scored 15 of Kansas City’s 19 goals on the season.
· Hohlbein has two goals and Michael Kraus has one.
· Kansas City’s second goal came off an own goal from New England midfielder Jeff Larentowicz.
· The Wizards last received an own goal October 25, 2008 in a 3-1 win over New England in Foxborough.
· The Wizards final goal came after a corner kick, with Aaron Hohlbein scoring his 2nd goal of the season.
· Jimmy Conrad assisted the goal, his 1st helper of the year.
· Conrad’s last assist came September 25, 2005 against the LA Galaxy.
· Conrad now has 10 career assists.
· Goalkeeper Kevin Hartman holds the all-time MLS record for the most consecutive minutes played.
· He has not missed a minute in the last 96 MLS matches, a stretch of 8640 straight minutes.
· Hartman’s 96 straight starts give him 2nd place on the League’s consecutive games played and games started lists.
· Hartman made four saves on the night, extending his MLS-record total to 1177.
· Hartman also holds the MLS record for most career wins (143).
· Midfielder Roger Espinoza returned from duty with the Honduras National but did not enter the match.
· New England defender Emmanuel Osei was shown a red card in the 31st minute.
· There have now been seven red cards in games involving the Wizards this season.
· The Wizards are 3-1-2 in games involving red cards.
· Kansas City opponents have committed five red cards this year.
· The Wizards are 3-1-1 in games when up a man.
· Kansas City was without goalkeeper Eric Kronberg, defender Chance Myers and striker Adam Cristman due to injury.
· Saturday after the match, Metro Praise performed on the field at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.
· Metro Praise also sang the National Anthem.
· With the three goals scored Saturday, the Wizards activated the Planet Sub “Hat Trick Special” for fans. Any Wizards fan will receive a Planet Sub Sandwich, chips and a cookie for $3 at area Planet Sub locations simply by mentioning the “Hat Trick Special.”
· By scoring three goals and winning, the Wizards won all fans in section 114 at CAB 10 free boneless wings at KC-area Hooter’s.