Notables and Quotes

FYI-Reserves are up 2-0 at halftime. First half goals from Trujillo and Watson. Espinoza was taken off after being injured on a (reportedly) dirty tackle.

• Kansas City concludes the regular season 11-10-9, 42 pts in 4th place in the Eastern Conference.
• Kansas City will now face the Columbus Crew in a two-game, total-goals playoff series.
• The first match comes next Saturday when Kansas City hosts Columbus at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. CT, and the game will be shown nationally on HDNet.
• Kansas City has now qualified for the playoffs in nine of their 13 seasons.
• The Wizards have made the playoffs in both seasons since OnGoal took over the team late in 2006.
• Kansas City finished the season with their highest point total since 2005 (45).
• Kansas City is now 17-11-7 all-time against New England, including a 9-5-4 record in New England.
• The Wizards are 8-1-4 in their last 13 games at New England, including a 6-1-4 record at Gillette Stadium.
• Kansas City finished the season 5-1-1 in their final seven matches, including a 3-0-0 record in their last three.
• Striker Claudio Lopez recorded one goal and one assists on the night.
• He finished his first MLS season tied for second on the team in goals (6) and tied for the team lead in assists (7).
• Lopez recorded two goals and three assists in his final two regular-season games.
• Davy Arnaud scored his 7th goal of the season, clinching the team Golden Boot after scoring two goals in his final two games.
• This is the first season Arnaud has led the Wizards in goals since joining the team in 2002 out of West Texas A&M.
• Arnaud was inducted to the West Texas A&M Hall of Fame last month.
• He has 32 career goals, breaking a tie with Mo Johnston for 3rd on the Wizards all-time list.
• Rookie Roger Espinoza picked up his 3rd assist of the season, playing a low ball along the ground for Arnaud.
• Kansas City’s 3rd goal came off the foot of Revs defender Michael Parkhurst after Ivan Trujillo played a ball in toward Davy Arnaud in a dangerous position in the center of the penalty area.
• It was the 5th time this season Kansas City scored three goals and the second-straight match.
• Goalkeeper Kevin Hartman and defender Jimmy Conrad are the only Wizards to play all 2700 minutes this season.
• They entered the match as two of six players in MLS to play every minute for their team in 2008.
• Conrad and New England defender Jay Heaps finished as the only field players to play all 2700 minutes this season.
• Hartman, Conrad and defender Michael Harrington are the only three players to start in all 30 MLS games.
• Hartman now has 138 career wins, an MLS all-time record.
• Hartman made two saves on the night and now has 1131 for his MLS career.
• He trails only former Wizards standout Tony Meola (1136) for the all-time MLS lead.
• Hartman finished with 118 saves on the year, good for 3rd best in a single-season for Kansas City.
• The total is tied for the second-best single-season save total of Hartman’s 12-year career.
• Hartman helped create two goals on the night.
• His long clearance put Claudio Lopez into space behind the New England defense before he was pulled down for a penalty kick.
• Hartman then unleashed a long throw to Trujillo that eventually became the own goal.
• Hartman and the Wizards defense are guaranteed a share of the MLS lead in shutouts (10).
• The shutout total is the second-best of Hartman’s career.
• Kansas City is currently tied with Chicago on 10, while Columbus and former Wizards ‘keeper Will Hesmer have nine and play Sunday at home against D.C. United.
• Kansas City’s reserve team faced off with New England’s immediately after the MLS match.
• A Kansas City win coupled with a Houston tie Sunday would clinch the Reserve Division crown for KC. The Wizards would also win with a tie Saturday night and a Houston loss Sunday against Chivas USA’s reserves.

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS HEAD COACH CURT ONALFO
“Any time you get three points, you’re obviously happy with that. It was a strange game with two red cards in the first half and us being up two men for the entirety of the second half. It’s a game that you don’t put a lot of attention to. We got our three points and now we’re playing the best team in Major League Soccer in the Columbus Crew.”

“It was another opportunity for all 11 of our players to continue to get galvanized and realize how they have to move on both sides of the ball, staying disciplined and grinding out a result on the road. That’s what we take from it. But it didn’t have a whole lot of meaning in the game for (New England) and where they stood in the standings. We’re just happy to have gotten three points and end the season on a good note as we go into the playoffs.”

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS FORWARD DAVY ARNAUD
“It feels good. It was important for us to keep the momentum that we built the last month-and-a-half or so with all of the home games that we had. Tonight didn’t really matter in terms of us getting into the playoffs, but we wanted to come in and get a result just to keep that positive thing we have going into the playoffs.

“We were in a little bit of a hole. We had our backs against the wall, and we needed to get some wins at home and we really made an effort – everyone on the field – to work hard for each other. We’ve been difficult to play against, and if you do that, you’re going to get some wins.”

On the Wizards’ success at New England
“We always seem to do pretty well here for whatever reason. We haven’t had a whole lot of road wins this year – I think that was maybe our second one – so it was a good one to get going into next weekend.”