The Los Angeles Galaxy booked a spot in the MLS championship game with a 1-0 win over Colorado on Wednesday night that gave it a 6 points to 0 semifinals series win over Colorado.
Carlos Ruiz scored Los AngelesÆ goal while setting the record for playoff goals in one season at seven. The Galaxy has reached the MLS Cup three previous times, finishing runner-up each time.
New England beat Columbus, 1-0, on a Jason Heaps goal despite playing a man down for most of the game after Heaps was ejected for a head-butt. New England takes a 4 points to 1 lead into Game 3 of the series.
Oct. 9 in Columbus
Columbus 0 New England 1.
Goal: Heaps (Harris, Kamler) 3.
Columbus – Busch, Dunseth, McCarty (Washington, 46), Denton, Torres, Maisonneuve (Perez, 62), Oughton, Garcia, West (Martino, 46), McBride, Cunningham.
New England – Brown, Heaps, Llamosa, Pierce (Griffiths, 66), Franchino, Ralston, Cullen, Cloutier, Kamler, Harris, Twellman (Fuller, 75).
Yellow Cards: Columbus – Garcia 40, Dunseth 79, Oughton 91+; New England – Heaps 38.
Red Card: New England – Heaps 39.
Referee: Gerry Corrie.
Att.: 10,245.
(New England leads series 4-1 on points.)
Oct. 9 in Denver
Colorado 0 Los Angeles 1.
Goal: Ruiz (Jones, Vagenas) 64.
Colorado – Kramer, Titus, Fraser, Herdsman, Mastroeni, Valderrama, Chung, Hart (Kingsley, 73), Henderson, Spencer, Carrieri (Shannon, 73).
Los Angeles – Hartman, Hendrickson, Waibel, Califf, Marshall, Victorine, Cienfuegos (Vagenas, 63), Jones, Elliott, Ruiz, Moreno (Mullan, 66).
Yellow Cards: Colorado – Mastroeni 86; Los Angeles – Waibel 83, Jones 90.
Referee: Alex Prus.
Att.: 12,367.
(Los Angeles wins series 6-0 on points.)