By Ridge Mahoney, Senior Editor

HERO: Two minutes into overtime Chris Brown got on the end of a Josh Wolff cross that was mishandled and smashed a shot into the net off the underside of the crossbar for the winner as Kansas City rallied from a 2-1 deficit to beat D.C. United, 3-2.

GOAT: D.C. keeper Nick Rimando was the main reason last year's goal-challenged team stayed in the playoff hunt so long, but he was beaten by a long-range Preki shot that into the middle of the net and he fumbled a cross that led to Kansas City's winning goal.

DAY OF THE DEBUTANTS: Four players were making their MLS debuts for the Quakes and all played prominent roles in a 2-1 win over Colorado.

Forward Brian Ching scored the first goal in the first minute, rookie defender Todd Dunivant nutmegged Rapids keeper Scott Garlick for the second goal, and San Jose goalie Pat Onstad pulled off a couple of good saves.

Defender Craig Waibel went the full 90 minutes at right back. He was a member of the Quakes briefly in 2001 and played for San Jose that year in an Open Cup game against the Galaxy.

Earnie Stewart got generally good marks for his first game with D.C.

BEST GOAL: Burn midfielder Ronnie O'Brien met a deft feed from Jason Kreis with a thunderous first-time strike that whistled into the top corner for the Burn's goal in its 1-1 tie with Los Angeles.

BEST ASSIST: Marco Etcheverry's dribble to the goal line and looping cross that Santino Quaranta headed into the net for D.C. United's second goal were vintage El Diablo.

Also of high quality: Frankie Hejduk's bending cross to Jeff Cunningham for the Crew's last-minute tally that beat the Metros 1-0, Brian Mullan's precise diagonal ball that set up Brian Ching, and Francisco Gomez's midfield spin and feed for Chris Klein's equalizer.

BEST SAVE: New England keeper Adin Brown stopped a penalty kick from Rodrigo Faria in the Revs' 1-1 tie with the Fire.

FAN FRENZY: Kansas City set a franchise record by drawing 22,403 for its opener. … Only 5,000 seats were available at Cardinal Stadium for the Fire's opener in Naperville, so many of the 7,143 fans had to stand. … Dallas declared a sellout of 9,098 fans for its first game at Dragon Stadium at Southlake. The game suffered from football lines that made for an ugly showing on TV and an artificial surface heated up by 80-degree temperatures.