By Ridge Mahoney, Senior Editor

The Revs and Fire get a leg up on the road in the first leg; the Galaxy shakes the Quakes at Home Depot Center.

BEST GOALS: For emphatic, ruthless finishing, the Galaxy's Carlos Ruiz has no peer. He nailed down L.A.'s 2-0 win over the Quakes by settling a long ball from Hong Myung-Bo, fending off two tacklers, and drilling a low left-footed shot just inside the near post.

STATS: In just his seventh MLS postseason game, Ruiz scored his ninth goal. He, Brian McBride, and Ante Razov are tied for fourth on the all-time list behind Roy Lassiter (13) and Preki and Jaime Moreno (10 each). … The Quakes are winless in their last five games.

Andy Williams set Chicago on the path to its own 2-0 victory over D.C. United with a 25-yard, first-time blast in the fourth minute. Ryan Nelsen's headed clearance went straight to Williams, who drilled a low screamer with the outside of his right foot.

STATS: Williams had scored just two goals in 20 games during the regular season and his goal against D.C. was his first in MLS postseason play.

BEST ASSISTS: Hong's 45-yard ball to Ruiz was of high quality. For cleverness and effectiveness, the honor goes to Dario Fabbro's back-heel flick to Pat Noonan for the second goal in the Revs' 2-0 victory.

Fabbro, marked up on the right side, re-directed a ball from Jose Cancela to Noonan, who exploited a moment of confusion between Ricardo Clark and Eddie Pope to hit a low shot.

STATS: Fabbro also scored the first goal, his third — all against the Metros — in nine games for the Revs since being acquired in a late-season trade from Kansas City. He played only 179 minutes and hadn't scored for the Wizards prior to the trade. … The Revs have won six straight games.

BEST SAVES: Metros keeper Jonny Walker swatted away a deflected shot off Revs midfielder Shalrie Joseph with the score 1-0. Revs goalie Adin Brown punched away a free kick from Clint Mathis to preserve the 2-0 lead.

STATS: The Metros outshot the Revs, 20-6, but Brown's eight saves and fifth career playoff shutout kept them off the board.

United keeper Doug Warren snuffed DaMarcus Beasley one-on-one in the first half to keep his team in the game.

FACT: Hristo Stoitchkov led a furious protest when Ronald Cerritos' header into the net was disallowed for offside; replays indicated the referee's assistant was correct in raising his flag.

STAT: United had nearly as many yellow cards (4) as shots (6). Stoitchkov was cautioned for his tirade.

BAR TAB: More shots hit the woodwork than the nets in the Revs' victory.

A wild scramble resulted in an Eddie Pope close-range shot being deflected by Noonan off the underside of the bar before the Revs cleared it. Mike Magee shot against the crossbar and a long chip by Noonan over Walker came back off the bar.

* Kansas City and Colorado open their quarterfinal series with the first leg on Tuesday in Denver: 9:30 pm ET/7:30 pm MT/6:30 pm PT TV: Metro Sports (Kansas City); Shootout package: DIRECTV: 794; DISHNET: 463.

Summaries (quarterfinals, first leg)

Nov. 1 in East Rutherford, N.J.
METROSTARS 0 NEW ENGLAND 2.
Goals: Fabbro (Heaps, Cancela) 17, Noonan (Fabbro, Cancela) 65.
MetroStars — Walker, Jolley, Pope, Ziadie (Gaven, 46), Leitch, Clark, Guevara, Lisi, DiGiamarino (Bartolomeu, 71), Juskowiak (Magee, 60), Mathis.
New England — Brown, Heaps, Llamosa, Pierce, Leonard, Ralston, Cancela, Joseph, Kamler (Moore, 49), Fabbro (Cullen, 76), Noonan.
Yellow Cards: MetroStars — Mathis 7, Guevara 41, DiGiamarino 69, Lisi 94+; New England — Leonard 4, Heaps 38, Joseph 75.
Referee: Terry Vaughn.
Att.: 10,211.

Second leg:
Sunday, Nov. 9
New England-MetroStars 4:00 pm ET.

Nov. 1 in Washington D.C.
D.C. UNITED 0 CHICAGO 2.
Goals: Williams 4, Razov (Jaqua, Thornton) 94+.
DC United — Warren, Namoff, Nelsen, Petke, Prideaux, Stewart, Etcheverry (Quintanilla, 57), Kovalenko, Convey, Cerritos (Martins, 81), Stoitchkov (Quaranta, 69).
Chicago — Thornton, Bocanegra, Curtin, Perez, Whitfield, Armas, Marsch, Williams (Mapp, 65), Beasley, Ralph (Jaqua, 82), Razov.
Yellow Cards: DC United — Stoitchkov 14, Prideaux 28, Namoff 38, Kovalenko 74; Chicago — Marsch 36, Beasley 40, Perez 59.
Referee: Ricardo Valenzuela.
Att.: 15,202.

Second leg:
Sunday, Nov. 9
Chicago-D.C. United 1:00 pm ET.

Nov. 1 in Carson, Calif.
LOS ANGELES 2 SAN JOSE 0.
Goals: Victorine 59, Ruiz (Hong) 62.
Los Angeles — Hartman, Califf, Hong, Marshall, Torres (Lewis, 89), Elliott, Jones, Vagenas, Victorine (Albright, 73), Moreno, Ruiz.
San Jose — Onstad, Roner, Agoos, Dayak, Dunivant, Mullan, Corrales (Waibel, 72), Mulrooney, Russell, De Rosario (Faria, 21; Walker, 75), Donovan.
Yellow Cards: Los Angeles — Califf 32, Hong 55; San Jose — Mullan 22, Waibel 77.
Referee: Noel Kenny.
Att.: 20,201.