By Ridge Mahoney, Senior Editor

The Revs and the Wizards go OT to notch vital victories; squandered penalties invade the Meadowlands; the Quakes draw in Denver; and the careening Crew loses at Chicago — again.

BEST GOALS: Only six goals were scored in five games, and the best two were deflections.

Ante Razov's one-two with Nate Jaqua set Jaqua through the Crew defense to score the winning goal in a 2-0 Fire victory, although his shot bounced off the chest of Michael Clark and past keeper Jon Busch.

FACT: A crowd of 30,845 — fourth largest in team history — came to the renovated Soldier Field, where the first-place Fire will enjoy homefield advantage in the playoffs.

FACT: The defeat leaves the Crew six points behind D.C. United with two games to play. To make the playoffs, the Crew must win in RFK Stadium next Sunday and also beat Chicago at home on the final day of the season (Oct. 26), which is a day after D.C. closes out its schedule at home against Kansas City.

If United gets at least a point in either game, Columbus is eliminated. But if the Crew makes up the six-point gap and ties D.C. with 38 points, it would sneak into fourth place on the head-to-head tiebreaker, which is currently tied at 1-1-1.

Kerry Zavagnin scored the first goal against Los Angeles by stripping the ball from Pete Vagenas in midfield and pushing forth to hit a low shot that deflected off Alexi Lalas and past keeper Kevin Hartman.

FACT: By winning 2-1 in overtime, the Wizards guaranteed themselves a conference semifinal matchup with Colorado. Homefield advantage will go to the team finishing second.

BEST SAVES: Three penalties were stopped in the Metros' 0-0 tie against Dallas. Here's how they stacked up on the degree-of-difficulty meter:

Superb — Burn keeper D.J. Countess flew to his right to tip away a low shot by Metros midfielder Amado Guevara.

Excellent — Metros keeper Jonny Walker lunged to his right to get a hand onto a well-hit PK by Eddie Johnson and deflect it onto the crossbar.

Poor — Clint Mathis drilled his PK right at Countess, who pushed it away.

FACT: Countess joined Tony Meola as the only keepers to save two penalty kicks in one game. Meola did it as a Metro in 1997 against Kansas City and as a Wizard last season against D.C. United.

Galaxy goalie Kevin Hartman denied Chris Klein with a full-length diving save with the score 1-1, but had no chance on Igor Simutenkov's overtime winner.

FACTS: The Galaxy lost its third straight game and has only one win its last six matches. Its defeat banishes Los Angeles to fourth place and a first-round playoff matchup with San Jose. The teams will play four games in a row against each other: the final two regular-season meetings and their two playoff contests.

STAT: Carlos Ruiz converted a penalty kick for his 15th goal and is tied for the MLS goalscoring lead with Taylor Twellman, who is out for the season with a stress fracture.

REVS WIN! The other penalty kick to be converted came in overtime of the Revs-D.C. United game, courtesy of Steve Ralston. His only other PK in MLS was stopped by Matt Reis, a former member of the Galaxy and now a teammate on the Revs.

FACTS: United lost in OT for the fourth time this season. New England trails the second-place Metros by three points in the standings and the teams finish the regular season with two head-to-head meetings. They too could play four consecutive games against each other by finishing second and third.

NEW BOY: Recent signing Chris Bagley played a prominent role for the Revs.

The developmental player signed just last Friday came on as a sub for Pat Noonan and 30 seconds into overtime and was taken down by Brandon Prideaux to set up the penalty kick that Ralston converted.

FACT: Bagley was signed as a replacement for Chris Brown, who suffered a broken foot and is out for the season.

FILL-INS: San Jose, missing Pat Onstad and Dwayne De Rosario to Canadian national team duty, garnered a 0-0 tie at Colorado with backup Jon Conway in the nets and striker Rodrigo Faria up front.

STATS: Rapids keeper Scott Garlick earned his ninth shutout of the season, which ties him with Onstad for the league lead. The Rapids ran their unbeaten run at home to 12 games (8-0-4). The Quakes are tied with Chicago for the best record in MLS (14-6-8, 50 points) and have the league's best road mark (7-2-5).