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Miami wizardry Fusion dispose of Wizards to advance to semifinals
Updated: Sunday September 30, 2001 10:51 AM
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- Chris Henderson scored in the 71st minute as the Miami Fusion beat the Kansas City Wizards 2-1 Saturday in the decisive third game of their MLS quarterfinal series. The victory gave the Fusion, the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, six points in the first-to-five-points series. They advance to the semifinals against the San Jose Earthquakes, beginning Oct. 10. The Wizards, the defending MLS Cup champions, had their season ended by two players the club traded to the Fusion in the offseason, Henderson and midfielder Preki. "Kansas City was a very proud champion, they did not want to let go of the crown," Fusion head coach Ray Hudson said. "They fought to the bitter end. They made us work very hard." Preki pulled the Fusion even at 1-1 in the 14th minute, less than 30 seconds after the Wizards took a 1-0 lead. Preki's goal came off a direct kick, which was deflected into the lower right corner past Wizards goalkeeper Tony Meola. The kick was awarded after a foul on Preki. "It was not the best goal I ever scored, but I'd rather take an ugly goal and win, than score a marvelous goal and lose," Preki said. Forward Onandi Lowe gave the Wizards a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute with a header off a crossing pass from defender Mike Burns. Roy Lassiter also assisted. "We really dominated them at home and when we took the early 1-0 lead, I thought it was our night," Meola said. "We battled tough to the end. It was a tough season going from MLS champs to the No. 8 seed, but we didn't give up all season." The game-winning goal came after Johnny Torres took a pass from defender Ivan McKinley on the left sideline and kicked the ball over his head into Henderson's patch. Henderson's right-footed volley went over Meola's head and dipped into the top right corner of the net. "The ball got between two of their backs and I saw space," said Henderson. "I saw Peter Vermes coming and I thought I was going to have to try and punch it by him and he hesitated, so I thought I'd take a chance and shoot it and it went in." The Fusion played without two of their top players, defender Pablo Mastroeni and forward Diego Serna, who were serving one-game suspensions for receiving red cards in Game 2. Mastroeni has been the Fusion's top defender the past three seasons, and Serna was the league's second-leading scorer this season. "It's like the last days of Pompeii" in the Fusion locker room, Hudson said in his post-game news conference. "They earned every moment. I'm so pleased for those lads in there. I'm so very delighted for the unit. This was a great win. "This was a very, very proud champion who did not want to let go their crown and they fought and scratched and battled for everything." SummaryScoring: KC --Lowe (Burns, Lassiter) 13
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS--Tony Meola, Chris Klein, Nick Garcia, Peter Vermes, Mike
Burns, Kerry Zavagnin, Matt McKeon, Francisco Gomez (Mo Johnston 45), Chris
Brown (Andrew Gregor 81), Onandi Lowe, Roy Lassiter (Gary Glasgow 61)
MIAMI FUSION--Nick Rimando, Ian Woan (Johnny Torres 62), Brian Dunseth, Carlos
Llamosa, Ivan McKinley, Lazo Alavanja (Tyrone Marshall 62), Ian Bishop, Jim
Rooney, Chris Henderson, Alex Pineda Chacon, Preki (Jeff Bilyk 90)
Referee: Gerry Corrie; Assistant Referees: Chip Reed, Richard Eddy
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