By Ridge Mahoney

Jeff Cunningham scores twice to keep the Crew's unbeaten streak alive; the shorthanded Quakes beat the stripped-down Metros; the Fire squanders a lead and the game at Home Depot; Dallas downs the reeling Revs; and Colorado loses at home and ties on the road. BRIANS' GOALS: The Quakes captured a 3-1 victory over the Metros thanks to goals on indefatigable efforts from Brian Ching and Brian Mullan.

With the score 1-1, Ching chested down a long ball from Richard Mulrooney and despite slipping while evading keeper Zach Wells, recovered to stab the winning goal into the net.

Mullan chased down a ball in the left-wing corner of the penalty area, bounced back up after being felled by Chris Leitch, darted between Leitch and Ricardo Clark, and dribbled laterally to evade Jeff Parke and Kenny Arena and strike a shot into the bottom corner.

San Jose was missing three starters because of national team duty; the Metros had seven regulars wearing other shirts. UP AND DOWN: The revamped Burn may be in for a roller-coaster season. Dallas beat New England, 3-1, for a second straight win; it had opened the season with a four-game unbeaten streak and then lost four in a row.

All three Dallas forwards hit the net. Jason Kreis beat the offside trap — or did he? — to put away a Simo Valakari cross for a 1-0 lead and his 87th goal, one short of Roy Lassiter's all-time MLS record. SAVES: Backup keeper Jeff Cassar pulled off a incredible double save with the score, 1-1. He dived right to turn away a powerful Dempsey header and scrambled to block Ralston's first-time shot off the rebound. DOUBLE DUTY: Two Galaxy players tallied a goal and an assist. Joseph Ngwenya, starting at forward in the absences of Carlos Ruiz and Jovan Kirovski, laid back a ball for Andreas Herzog to drill low into the net. Ngwenya headed home a Chris Albright cross to tie the score. Albright headed the winner in stoppage time from another right-flank cross, this one by Sasha Victorine. WIZARDRY: Kansas City ended Colorado's 16-game home unbeaten streak last Wednesday by edging the Rapids 1-0 on a Josh Wolff penalty kick, and came away from Columbus with a 2-2 tie despite going a goal down in the 18th minute. The Wizards had lost their first three road games of the season.

STREAK: Columbus ran its unbeaten run to seven games with a 2-2 tie with Kansas City.

BEST GOAL: Mullan's determined run to ice the Quakes win gets the nod over a superb middle-distance strike from Herzog, good strikes off the dribble from Razov and Cunningham (who also scored from the spot), and a sizzling free kick into the top corner by Jeff Agoos. BEST ASSISTS: A plethora of good crosses, both from the run of play and set pieces, contributed to 18 goals being scored in six matches.

Steve Ralston sprinted to chase down the ball he crossed from the goal line for Clint Dempsey to crash into the net for the Revs' only goal, and Albright surged into space before sending over the ball Ngwenya headed home. Brad Davis sent over a nice ball for Eddie Johnson to head the Burn's winner.