By Ridge Mahoney, Senior Editor

HERO: Wizards' keeper Tony Meola helped his team steal a point in San Jose by thwarting Landon Donovan and Brian Mullan with superb saves in their 1-1 tie. Meola dived left to foil Donovan on a long-range drive and snuffed Mullan in overtime for two of his nine saves.

HEROIC: Brian McBride may be playing the best soccer of his MLS career although matching his 1996 rookie totals of 10 goals and 13 assists might be tough because to national team commitments.

McBride's goal and assist in the Crew's 2-1 defeat of the Revs only punctuated his contribution. He repelled set plays with vital headers, he checked back into midfield to collect and hold the ball, he pressured opponents, he moved constantly and with purpose.

The Crew is 2-0-1 and by beating the Revs gained a smidgen of revenge for being knocked out of the playoffs last season. In that series, Columbus didn't win a game and never held a lead.

GOAT: Keeper Jeff Causey once slapped a ball into his own net to score one of the most embarrassing goals in league history, but Pat Onstad's oggie Saturday might be the ugliest one in league history.

Onstad punched a Preki corner kick straight up into the air and then instead of catching the ball or palming over the crossbar, weakly fisted it into the net. Ugh.

FIRSTS: The Quakes staged a doubleheader with the WUSA CyberRays for the first time at Spartan Stadium. A crowd of 17,032 fans came out to see the Quakes tie the Wizards, 1-1, and the Washington Freedom beat the CyberRays, 2-0.

Previous MLS-WUSA doubleheaders have been staged by the Freedom and D.C. United, and the Boston Breakers and New England Revolution.

Rookie Logan Pause played all 100 minutes in his first game for the Fire, and Honduran midfielder Amado Guevara made his MLS debut for the MetroStars.

Jaime Moreno, traded by D.C. United during the offseason, put away a penalty to score his first goal as a MetroStar in a 1-1 tie with Los Angeles.

STATS: Chicago and D.C. United played their third consecutive goalless tie. … The Galaxy played its third straight 1-1 tie as they continue an eight-game road trip to open the season. … Six of the first 10 games have ended in ties. Last year, 22 of 140 games (16 percent) finished even.