Colorado's Joe Cannon, who replaced Scott Garlick in the Rapids' goal for the first-leg of the MLS quarterfinals against Kansas City, gave up a goal in the third minute to Wolde Harris.
The Rapids recovered for a 1-1 tie thanks to Nat Borchers' close-range header from a Kyle Beckerman cross. John Spencer hit the Kansas City post in the 30th minute on Colorado's best unconverted chance of the game.
Cannon, who had seen only 45 minutes of action with the Rapids since signing Aug. 19 — Garlick played 2,346 minutes in 26 regular-season game and conceded an average of 1.46 goals per game — was beaten from close-range on the near post by Harris.
The second-leg of the total-goals series is Saturday in Kansas City.
Quarterfinal, second leg
Nov. 4 in Denver
COLORADO 1 KANSAS CITY 1
Goals: Harris (Zavagnin) 3; Borchers (Beckerman, Kotschau) 53.
Colorado — Cannon, Hart (Crawford, 46), Borchers, Fraser, Kotschau, Henderson, Beckerman, Mastroeni, Chung, Carrieri (Roberts, 66), Spencer.
Kansas City — Meola, Conrad, Gutierrez, Garcia, Zotinca (Armstrong, 71), Quill, Talley, Zavagnin, Klein, Preki, Harris (Arnaud, 86).
Yellow cards: Colorado — Carrieri 12, Fraser 48; Kansas City — Klein 16, Arnaud 90.
Referee: Brian Hall
Att.: 6,434.