The team captain, who went more than four years between goals before scoring in ‘09, delivered a 73rd minute dagger Saturday that propelled Colorado to a 2-1 victory over the New England Revolution. Mastroeni’s goal came eight months after he scored against Chivas USA on Aug. 8, 2009.

With the road win, the Rapids moved to 3-1-1 (10 points) and second place in the West. New England fell to 2-3-0 (6 points).

In three road games this season, the Rapids have won two.  In 2009, the Rapids won only two road games. Prior to this season, the Rapids had never won a season opener on the road. After beating Chivas USA to start the season, the Rapids added another surpising win. In three previous meetings against the Revs, all three games ended 1-1.

The win was a deserved one for the Rapids, who had the better of play in the first half, and were the most threatening side throughout.

Mehdi Ballouchy gave the Rapids an early lead and proved particularly dangerous in the first half. In the 14th minute, Ballouchy beat former teammate Preston Burpo with a bouncer during the run of play, the midfielder’s first goal of the season. The shot from outside the box just eluded the ‘keeper as he dove to the right.

The Rapids lead didn’t last, as Marco Perovic scored his first MLS goal with a left-footed free kick that eluded Matt Pickens in the 18th minute. It was a clinical strike from outside the box.

Jeff Larentowicz nearly brought Colorado to the fore again in the 26th minute. His shot from outside the penalty area beat Burpo, but bounced off the far post. This paled in comparison to the scramble that came in the 33rd minute.

Hard-working Omar Cummings delivered a bounding ball to Ballouchy in the box. The midfielder controlled the ball and, with his back to the goal, delivered a bicycle chip to the far post. The ball came off the woodwork to the feet of Casey. In the scramble, Casey couldn’t get off a shot and the ball, which seemed to take residence in a dangerous spot, was eventually cleared by the Revs.

The Series: Colorado improved to 17-11-7 against New England, including a 6-8-4 record when playing the Revs on the road.

Rapids 11: Pickens, Danny Earls (Scott Palguta, 88th), Drew Moor, Marvell Wynne, Kosuke Kimura (Julien Baudet, 78th), Ballouchy, Jeff Larentowicz, Pablo Mastroeni, Wells Thompson (Colin Clark, 74th), Omar Cummings, Conor Casey.

Revs 11: Burpo, Seth Sinovic (Kenny Mansally, 77th), Darrius Barnes, Cory Gibbs, Kevin Alston, Perovic, Joseph Niouky, Pat Phelan, Sainey Nyassi, Kheli Dube (Khano Smith, 70th), Zack Schilawski (Edgaras Jankauskas, 62nd).

Next: The Rapids return to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park to face the Los Angeles Galaxy at 7:30 p.m. on May 5.

The Rapids, who upended Toronto 3-1 on Sunday, headed East with a record of 2-1-1 on 7 points, good for a tie for third place in the Western Conference. The Rapids trail the Seattle Sounders (2-1-2, 8 points) and the runaway Los Angeles Galaxy (4-0-0, 12 points).

The Revolution hold a record of 2-2-0 on 6 points, and currently sit in third place in the East.

Larentowicz, 26, was drafted by the Revolution in the fourth round (45th overall) in the 2005 Major League Soccer supplemental draft and earned a starting role midway through the 2006 season. After registering four goals (all from outside the penalty area) in 2008 and three goals in 2007, he finished the 2009 season with one goal and two assists for New England. He started 28 games for the Revs last year. He helped Brown to two Ivy League championships. He trained with Sweden’s Malmo FF during the summer between his junior and senior years at Brown and with England’s Ipswich Town after the 2005 MLS season. Following the acquisition of Larentowicz’s rights, the Rapids agreed to terms on a new contract with him.

Thompson, 26, a wide midfielder who can use his left or right foot, was selected with the fifth overall pick in the 2007 MLS draft. He scored the winning goal in the final of the 2007 U.S. Open Cup, helping the Revs earn their first trophy. In 25 games last season (17 of them start) he registered one goal and two assists. While at Wake Forest in 2006, the Demon Deacons advanced to the NCAA College Cup for the first time in school history. He is the highest-drafted soccer player in Wake Forest history, and he is the fourth-highest-drafted student-athlete in school history, behind basketball’s Tim Duncan (No. 1 in the 1997 NBA draft) and Chris Paul (No. 4 in the 2005 NBA draft) and baseball’s Kyle Sleeth (No. 3 in the 2003 MLB draft).

Gibbs, pictured at right, joined Colorado in mid-August 2008 and was chosen as the team’s defender of the year that season. He appeared in 20 games (19 starts) in 2009. He scored his first career MLS goal, which was also an MLS goal of the week nominee, against Los Angeles in October 2008. He has 19 caps for the U.S. men’s national team. He was on the roster for Nats’ match against Guatemala in November 2008 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park but did not enter the game. Gibbs, who turned 30 this month, has played for St. Pauli, Charlton, Den Haag, Feyenoord and Dallas.

The Rapids acquired Burpo in a trade with the Earthquakes for Jovan Kirovski and Kelly Gray. Bupro spent nine years with the Seattle Sounders as one of the top goalkeepers in the USL First Division. In 2009, he started 11 games in goal and had a record of 1-4-6 with 23 saves and a 1.45 goals against average. He posted a shutout at Kansas City in September. He got his first significant time in goal for the Rapids in 2008 when Bouna Coundoul was away with the Senegalese National team, and finished the season with a 5-6-2 record and a 1.85 GAA. He’s also played for Chivas USA, the Boston Storm and New Hampshire Phantoms of the USISL, Harbor View of Jamaica’s first division and New Hampshire College (now Southern University of New Hampshire).

OregonLive.com reports that Spencer met with owner Merritt Paulson and others on the Timbers’ staff within the past few days in Portland.

Timbers head coach Gavin Wilkinson, who was the 2009 FieldTurf Coach of the Year for the USL First Division, is being considered as the club’s technical director.

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle reports that Spencer declined to interview for the D.C. United head coaching job because he is mulling an opportunity elsewhere, with all signs pointing to expansion Portland as the likely destination. Portland will start play in Major League Soccer in 2011.

“The reason I turned down an offer to go interview (with D.C.) was I already had an interview set up with another club,” Spencer said told the Chronicle. “And just out of professional courtesy to the team that had contacted me first, I felt it was professional not to accept another offer (to interview).”

Good luck, Spenny! We’re rootin’ for ya (until Portland plays the Rapids).

TRADE GONE BAD: Steven Goff of The Washington Post reports that the Rapids were preparing to trade goalkeeper Preston Burpo and defender Cory Gibbs for midfielders Jeff Larentowicz and Wells Thompson but the deal fell through because of issues involving Gibbs’ contract and a delay for his medical exam to be performed by the Revs.

RSL DRAFTS A RAPIDS FAN: The Deseret News reports that when Real Salt Lake drafted Collen Warner with the 15th pick in the MLS draft, the team picked a native Coloradoan who followed the Colorado Rapids “as much as any young soccer player” growing up. He told the newspaper that he attended Rapids matches frequently and watched others on television. Mark him down as another Colorado product who headed west on I-80 to Utah.

GUPPY SPEAKS: Tribal Football has a blurb about Rapids assistant coach Steve Guppy being happy in Colorado.

KARANKA INTERVIEW: Goal.com has an interview with former Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao and Colorado Rapids defender Aitor Karanka!

MCMANUS ON THE MOVE: Former Rapids striker (and ColoradoSoccerNow.com favorite) Tom McManus is getting a trial with English club Grimsby Town. The Grimsby Telegraph reports that Tom (or Tam, if you prefer) is looking for a new club during the transfer window. He left Derry City because of the club’s financial problems and returned to Scotland as a free agent recently and has had a trial with Ayr United.

ANOTHER FORMER RAPIDS STRIKER: Chris Carrieri will be playing for the Richmond Kickers of the USL Second Division. Carrieri retired from professional soccer before the 2008 season but came out of retirement to play with the Kickers. He scored one goal during seven appearances in 2009 and has committed to the club for 2010.

AND A CURRENT RAPIDS STRIKER: The Jamaica Observer takes a look at the Jamaican national team camp, which includes Rapids striker Omar Cummings.

KITS ON DISPLAY: Fanhouse.com has a look at all the Major League soccer jerseys for 2010. Not much change for the Rapids, which is a good thing.

This year the categories were limited to MVP, defender of the year, young player of the year, USSF humanitarian of the year and youth teams player of the year. Because I didn’t believe I’m qualified to vote on the latter two categories, that left only three for me: MVP, defender and young player.

Here are the winners:
YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Nick LaBrocca.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Matt Pickens
MVP: Omar Cummings
U.S. SOCCER FEDERATION RAPIDS HUMANITARIAN OF THE YEAR: Colin Clark
RAPIDS ACADEMY PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Brendan Roslund

To read more about Clark’s humanitarian efforts and the 2009 season of Roslund, a Denver Christian High School graduate, go here.

And here were my choices:

YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Because of the caveat that this award be reserved for players younger than 25, I had to break out my media guide and see who was eligible. Roughly, the field looked to consist of anyone born in 1985 or later. That would include Greg Dalby, Michael Holody, Nick LaBrocca, Ciaran O’Brien, Jacob Peterson, Ross Schunk, Steward Ceus and Rob Valentino. Did I miss somebody? If so, let me know. If not, this award boils down to Best Player Among These Eight Guys. Not the most inspiring category. Dalby played nearly a dozen games. Holody played less than half of that total. The only real choices here were Nick or Jake, and Jake missed the end of the year with a knee injury. But that injury showed just how important Peterson is to the Rapids. With Jamie Smith and Colin Clark out with injuries, the team was prepared to rely on Peterson out wide. Unfortunately, his knee had other ideas. LaBrocca is a mainstay in the starting lineup and seems soccer-wise for his years; the spirit of this award didn’t seem to fit. So I voted for Peterson because of the potential that is implied in this type of award. Hopefully we’ll see LaBrocca and Peterson on the field together for years to come. I would’ve liked to have been voting for newcomer of the year, where there’d be a real discussion between Scott Palguta or Julien Baudet. If we were choosing rookie of the year, Holody played a little but shows real promise. But that’s not what we had here.

DEFENDER OF THE YEAR: Had Ugo Ihemelu finished the season in Colorado, he probably would’ve been my choice. However, his baffling midseason trade makes that point moot. Is it just me or does anybody think there’s some connection to the Rapids going 1-3-4 after the Ihemelu trade? Anyway, let’s focus on who is still here. Jordan Harvey and Kosuke Kimura were tremendous in a season in which Harvey was a mainstay and Kimura moved in and out of the lineup and up to midfield and back to right back. The ability of these two players to move forward offensively was a godsend to a team that lost a lot of skill on the wings because of injuries. The goalkeepers? Burpo and Pickens split time throughout the season, and each played a valuable role. But those roles were limited. Then we have Baudet, who arrived midway through the year and made a big impact. He’s a leader. He’s smooth. He’s skilled. I look forward to watching him with the team for an entire season. But I voted for Scott Palguta. The big guy played with the Rochester Rhinos (under Rapids assistant Steve Guppy) from 2005 to 2008 and signed with Colorado in March. He committed 11 fouls in 23 games, including 19 starts, and only seven Rapids played more minutes than he did. He was a steady force in the middle in his first season in Major League Soccer. I had a real difficult time choosing between Harvey and Palguta.

MVP: Conor Casey. I laid out the reasons here, and some readers sounded off on why they would’ve chosen Cummings. Each player was deserving, and I have no problem with the choice of Cummings.

Pickens also was the Centennial Firm’s defensive player of the year, and Cummings was the Class VI player of the year.

I thought it was interesting that I was on the money for nearly all of my picks in the MLS Best XI balloting. But when it came to the Rapids, the team I saw play more than any other in 2009, none of my votes matched the eventual winners.

When Colorado Rapids coach Gary Smith said, “We need better players,” after losing to Real Salt Lake in the regular-season finale, there was speculation on my part (and others) that one player he was referring to was Mehdi Ballouchy.

So I wasn’t surprised to find that Ballouchy is on the list of players who are eligible to be drafted by the Philadelphia Union in Wednesday’s expansion draft.

However, I wasn’t expecting to see Jordan Harvey and Scott Palguta, who I thought were the team’s two best defenders, or Jacob Peterson, whom I voted for in the team’s annual end-of-season awards as the Rapids’ best young player under the age of 25.

The draft will last 10 rounds, and  Philadelphia may not claim more than one player from any team. Five teams will not have a player taken in the draft. The Rapids have never had a player chosen in any of the league’s expansion drafts.

The Rapids have a much more thorough look at the rules of the expansion draft on the team’s blog.

Here’s a look at all the available Rapids players:
Mehdi Ballouchy
Preston Burpo
Greg Dalby
Facundo Diz
Ty Harden
Jordan Harvey
Pat Noonan
Scott Palguta
Jacob Peterson
Steward Ceus
Mike Holody
Ross Schunk

And here are the players the team protected:
Julien Baudet
Conor Casey
Colin Clark
Omar Cummings
Cory Gibbs
Kosuke Kimura
Nick LaBrocca
Pablo Mastroeni
Drew Moor
Matt Pickens
Jamie Smith

Interestingly, the Rapids protected Ballouchy and Peterson in last year’s expansion draft for the Seattle Sounders, and Kimura was left unprotected. (And, oddly, the Rapids protected Bouna Coundoul, who wound up leaving the team after a contract squabble, and Ugo Ihemelu, whom they traded midseason for Moor).

Burpo, who played a significant role for the Rapids in 2009, survived the Seattle draft, and he also was available for Toronto FC in the 2006 expansion draft. Here’s an old FC Rocky post I wrote about that draft. I had some hits and some misses, but look at the goalkeepers who were available in that draft: Zach Thornton was on the 2009 MLS Best XI, and Nick Rimando, who just was named the MLS Cup MVP with Salt Lake.

So let’s have a look at this year’s expansion draft. Here are the available players from all clubs who will be available on Wednesday for Philadelphia. If you were putting together your own mock draft, who would you pick?

Chivas USA
Conway, Jon
Curtin, Jim
Harmse, Kevin
Jazic, Ante
Kennedy, Dan
Lillingston, Eduardo
Marsch, Jesse
Razov, Ante
Saragosa, Marcelo
Stepanovic, Bojan
Suarez, Claudio
Talley, Carey
Thomas, Shavar
Trujillo, Mariano
Victorine, Sasha
Chijindu, Chukwudi
Mayen, Gerson
Parker, Lance

Chicago Fire
Banner, Michael
Blanco, Cuauhtémoc
Carr, Calen
Dimitrov, Stefan
Dykstra, Andrew
Myrie, Dave
Rolfe, Chris
Segares, Gonzalo
Woolard, Daniel
Lowry, Peter
Washington, Austin

Columbus Crew
Garey, Jason
Gruenebaum, Andy
Hejduk, Frankie
Iro, Andy
Moreno, Alejandro
Nyazamba, Stanley
Oughton, Duncan
Padula, Gino
Renteria, Emilio
Schoeni, Kenny
Burns, Kevin
Elenio, Cory
Grendi, Alex

FC Dallas
Burse, Ray
Purdy, Steve
Ricchetti, Pablo
Rocha, Andre
Sala, Dario
Torres, Daniel
Van Den Bergh, Dave
Wagner, Blake
Wallace, Anthony

D.C. United
Emilio, Luciano
Gomez, Christian
Habarugira, David
Jacobson, Andrew
Janicki, Greg
John, Avery
Khumalo, Thabiso
McTavish, Devon
N’Silu, Ange
Olsen, Ben
Vaughn, Lawson
Wicks, Josh
Allen, Ely
Barklage, Brandon
DiRaimondo, John
Kocic, Milos
Shipalane, Tiyiselani

Houston Dynamo
Barrett, Wade
Chabala, Michael
Clark, Ricardo
Cochrane, Ryan
Landin, Luis
Mulrooney, Richard
Onstad, Pat
Robinson, Eddie
Thompson, Abe
Waibel, Craig
Deric, Tyler
Hayden, John Michael
Ustruck, Erik

Kansas City Wizards
Besler, Matthew
Cristman, Adam
Gomez, Herculez
Hartman, Kevin
Hirsig, Santiago
Hohlbein, Aaron
Kraus, Michael
Kronberg, Eric
McKenzie, Rauwshan
Morsink, Kurt
Watson, Lance
Marquess, Matt
Pardo, Boris

New England Revolution
Albright, Chris
Badilla, Gabriel
Heaps, Jay
Igwe, Amaechi
Jankauskas, Edgaras
Knighton, Brad
Matamoros Castro, Mauricio
Ombiogno, Stephane
Phelan, Pat
Thompson, Wells
Tierney, Chris
Videira, Michael
Shuttleworth, Robert

Los Angeles Galaxy
Dunivant, Todd
Eskandarian, Alecko
Gordon, Alan
Griffin, Leonard
Jordan, Bryan
Kirovski, Jovan
Klein, Chris
Lewis, Eddie
Miglioranzi, Stefani
Sanneh, Tony
Saunders, Josh
Valentin, Julian
Marshall, Yohance
Patterson, Kyle

New York Red Bulls
Boyens, Andrew
Cepero, Daniel
Garcia, Walter
Krupnik, Leonid
Patterson, Caleb
Petke, Mike
Rojas, Jorge
Sassano, Luke
Ubiparipovic, Sinisa
Wolyniec, John
Mbuta, Andongcho
Zimmerman, Nick

Real Salt Lake
Alexandre, Jean
Campos, Pablo
El Khalifi, Rachid
Gonzalez, Nelson
Grabavoy, Ned
Horst, David
Mathis, Clint
Movsisyan, Yura
Reynish, Kyle
Russell, Robbie
Williams, Andy
Cox, Raphael
Nunez, Tino

San Jose Earthquakes
Amarikwa, Quincy
Convey, Bobby
Elliott, Simon
Pitchkolan, Aaron
Ribeiro, Antonio
Salinas, Shea
Weber, Andrew
Wondolowski, Chris
Graczyk, Mike
Roberts, Jamil
Zaher, Michael

Seattle Sounders
Boss, Terry
Eylander, Chris
Graham, Taylor
King, Stephen
LeToux, Sebastien
Levesque, Roger
Riley, James
Scott, Zacharias
Sturgis, Nathan
Vagenas, Peter
Wahl, Tyson
Brown, Evan
Fucito, Michael
Neagle, Lamar
Nyassi, Sanna

Toronto FC
Edwards, Brian
Fellinga, Lesly
Garcia, Nick
Gerba, Ali
Guevara, Amado
Robinson, Carl
Vitti, Pablo
Gala, Gabe

And although they don’t work every Rapids game, the offered keen insight into the team and its playoff fortunes throughout Saturday night’s telecast from Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah.

When Real Salt Lake owned a 2-0 lead in the first half, Max was already calling it a win. Sullivan also called the result a done deal in the first half, as did Mark Rogondino at halftime. It’s painful to say, but at no point after Robbie Findley scored his second goal of the match did it seem as if the Rapids had the goods to make it a contest. Fighting for their playoff lives, they had no punch.

And the FSC crew could see that.

Sullivan also pointed out that someone in the Colorado midfield needed to pick up his game when the team faced a two-goal deficit in this, the season finale. He was absolutely right. The problem for the Rapids, however, was … who?

Since Colin Clark injured his knee on Aug. 11, the Rapids are 4-6-4 and have scored 19 goals in 14 games. Jacob Peterson and Jamie Smith also have suffered knee injuries and have missed time on the midfield flanks for Colorado.

Those losses forced Kosuke Kimura and Jordan Harvey to move forward into the midfield from the defense, the only area of the pitch where the Rapids have real depth. But that leaves Pat Noonan as the sole offensive midfield option on the bench. So if a Rapids midfielder was being counted on for a burst of offensive inspiration, who would it be?

In the second half, Sullivan said that, going into the playoffs, you want to be a team that shows it can play convincing soccer. The Rapids have not done that in weeks. Since the last time the team was on FSC (Sept. 5) the team is 0-3-4 and has scored six goals in those seven matches. Three of those were penalty kicks.

Next, Bretos noted near the end of the match that Colorado, based on this result, does not have the look of a playoff team. Maybe that was an easy one. What was your first clue, Max? Findley’s two first-half goals? Yura Movsisyan’s dagger in the 85th? The frustration on the faces of the players, helpless to shape their own fate? The observation was a soft one, but Bretos hit it out of the park.

Finally, Sullivan pointed out that RSL owns the mountain region of Major League Soccer. Again, painfully, they do.

Even though the Rapids beat them convincingly in May and Omar Cummings conjured a goal from nowhere for a road tie in June, Saturday’s 3-0 RSL victory came when it counted the most. It was the second straight season that RSL has beaten the Rapids in the regular-season finale with the playoffs on the line. Salt Lake gets to keep the Rocky Mountain Cup and shows once again that it holds the upper hand in this rivalry.

All that wisdom in a few short observations about the Rapids. FSC is a joy to watch.

This game, however, was not.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Findley.

ARE THE RAPIDS ELIMINATED? For Colorado to advance to the postseason the team needs New England to lose today against Columbus.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN CUP The trophy stays in Utah for another season, but it was nice to see C10 member Tina Nuechterlein in her Rapids gear on the telly.

ATTENDANCE MATTERS: Officially, the attendance was 18,675, but I saw a lot of red seats at Rio Tinto Stadium. Could the Rapids have drawn a better crowd? No.

RAPIDS STARTERS: Preston Burpo, Jordan Harvey, Cory Gibbs, Julien Baudet, Drew Moor, Mehdi Ballouchy, Pablo Mastroeni, Kosuke Kimura, Nick LaBrocca, Omar Cummings, Conor Casey.

REAL STARTERS: Nick Rimando, Chris Wingert, Nat Borchers, Jamison Olave, Tony Beltran, Andy Williams, Kyle Beckerman, Javier Morales, Will Johnson, Robbie Findley, Fabian Espindola.

RSL knocked the Rapids out of the playoffs (and put itself in) in the final minute of the final game of 2008. And the league set up a similar showdown by pairing the two in the 2009 finale.

It makes sense: Nurture this rivalry by making the teams go head to head at the most crucial juncture. More than likely, some important playoff scenario would come down to the last game for at least one of the two. Why not let them bang heads to decide it?

And get their hate on in the process.

After Saturday’s loss 2-1 loss to FC Dallas, the Rapids have played right into the schedule makers’ hands. Saturday’s match in Texas could’ve ended up anywhere from a 2-2 tie (if Kosuke Kimura puts away his golden opportunity in the second half) to a 6-1 win for Dallas (if the Hoops put away any number of golden opportunities in either half of play).

The Rapids had so many breaks in this game that Altitude color commentator Marcelo Balboa predicted Colorado would come back and tie it 2-2. And you can’t blame him.

Jeff Cunningham was called offside on a play in which he wasn’t.

Referee Edvin Jurisevic was too busy passing out yellow cards to notice Pat Noonan play the ball with his arm in the Rapids’ penalty area.

Cunningham missed a sure goal wide right.

Cunningham missed a sure goal wide left.

Dax McCarty drove a hard shot just over the crossbar.

Cunningham served to David Ferreira, who missed a completely empty net wide after Cunningham drew Rapids goalkeeper Preston Burpo out of the penalty area.

And on and on. The Hoops had so many opportunities to put this one out of reach that it got comical. And it seemed as if the stars were aligning to allow the Rapids their fifth consecutive tie.

Nope. The second Rapids goal didn’t come, and Dallas’ two goals held up.

Dallas got on the board first in the fourth minute. Van den Bergh served a wicked free kick in front of the Rapids’ goal, and the towering George John slipped in front of Jordan Harvey and headed it in.

Balboa was right on the money in pointing out that John was aggressive on the play, attacking the ball, and Harvey was passive, waiting for the ball to come to him. That was the difference in the goal, and it was a rare mistake from Harvey this season. He has played consistently at a high level for Colorado all year, and this is a rare blemish on his 2009 record.

The Hoops made it a 2-0 lead when Ugo Ihemelu put the ball in the net in the second half after another Dallas free kick. Ihemelu swiped at the ball with his leg, sending it toward goal. Burpo made the initial save, but the rebound bounced into the net after hitting Burpo’s leg or foot. Whatever body part happened to be the culprit, it was a goal for Dallas.

Pat Noonan gave the Rapids some hope in the 71st minute. For some reason the goal was unassisted, but Nick LaBrocca set it up with some nice footwork along left edge of Dallas’ penalty area. Noonan showed some fancy moves of his own to keep the ball in front of him and away from former Rapids defender Ihemelu, then he fooled Dallas keeper Dario Sala with a shot to the near post. Sala was looking far post, and Noonan almost twisted him into the ground like a tent stake.

But that was it from the Rapids. Colorado beat Toronto 1-0 in Commerce City on Sept. 5 and hasn’t won a game since. The team has logged a 0-2-4 record in that stretch and has scored only six goals, three from the penalty spot.

Six matches. Four points.

It’s a bad time of the season to be hitting a wall. And the last chance to get over that wall is Saturday.

In Sandy, Utah.

RACE FOR THE GOLDEN BOOT: In a highly anticipated meeting between the top contenders for the MLS Golden Boot, Cunningham and Rapids striker Conor Casey came up empty. Cunningham couldn’t finish any of his numerous chances, and Casey’s teammates couldn’t put him in a position to score. So, instead, we got John’s first goal in MLS, Ihemelu’s first goal of the season and Noonan’s second goal with the Rapids.

ALTITUDE HIGH JINKS 1: The Kroenke entertainment and sports programming network missed the first four minutes of the match, opting to show the Colorado Avalanche on Altitude and Altitude 2 simultaneously. The first we saw was Cory Gibbs objecting to a foul outside of the box (which is what led to van den Bergh’s fateful free kick). I’m not sure everybody had that problem in the metro area, but that’s what we got in Greeley on Comcast.

ALTITUDE HIGH JINKS 2: When will they stop superimposing images of the announcing team in front of the road stadium? It’s bush league. Just show them in the studio. It’s obvious Cory Lopez and Balboa aren’t at the stadium (Balboa even talked about driving to the game on Saturday), and trying to give the impression that they are on location is deceitful. Fox Soccer Channel often has its announcers in the studio (and not at the match site), and it never feels the need to lie to its viewers. They don’t make a point of hiding the fact that they’re not at the stadium; they just don’t try to show viewers that they are.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Dave van den Bergh’s service on the first Dallas goal was sublime, a low, curling rope of a kick. The Dallas offense was firing bullets that the Rapids couldn’t stop, only dodge, and van den Bergh was pulling the trigger. In the first 20 minutes of the second half, Dallas attacked in waves, with van den Bergh leading the charge. I thought Ihemelu matched up well with Omar Cummings and was making a case to be man of the match. And when Ugo scored his goal, the case got stronger. But there was a fire in Dallas’ bellies on Saturday, and van den Bergh threw fuel on the fire with his offense.

MISSING: The Rapids were without defender Julien Baudet and midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy because of disciplinary suspensions.

YOUNG AT THE BACK: When Rapids coach Gary Smith took Cory Gibbs out of the game in the 63rd minute, I thought it was a strong vote of confidence in defender Scott Palguta. Then, when Smith took out Palguta for striker Ross Schunk in the 87th, I thought it was a strong vote of confidence in rookie defender Michael Holody.

MAN WITH TWO FIRST NAMES: George John has a name that’s odd because it’s difficult not to think of either name as a first name. George. John. John. George.Then that got me thinking. George, er, John wasn’t the only player on the pitch with two first names, too. What about Jordan Harvey? And Conor Casey? But is Conor a first name or a last name more often. And, to be fair, if you consider how many folks have named their precious little boy Tanner in the past 20 years, I’m rocking two first names as well.

RAPIDS STARTERS: Preston Burpo, Drew Moor, Cory Gibbs, Scott Palguta, Kosuke Kimura, Nick LaBrocca, Pablo Mastroeni, Pat Noonan, Jordan Harvey, Conor Casey, Omar Cummings.

DALLAS STARTERS: Dario Sala, Heath Pearce, Ugo Ihemelu, George John, Jair Benitez, Atiba Harris, Daniel Hernandez, Dax McCarty, Dave van den Bergh, Jeff Cunningham, David Ferreira.

George Tanner is a former writer and editor for the Rocky Mountain News; the Greeley Tribune; The Daily Independent of Ridgecrest, Calif.; the Durango Herald; and the Boulder Daily Camera. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado and an affiliate professor at Metropolitan State College of Denver. E-mail him at ColoradoSoccerNow@gmail.com.

To advertise on Colorado Soccer Now, e-mail George at ColoradoSoccerNow@gmail.com.

Nelson, a senior forward from Laramie, scored four goals and tallied two assists to help Mines to a pair of victories last weekend. In Mines’ 4-3 win at CSU-Pueblo on Friday, Nelson scored a pair of goals, including the winner, and added an assist. He scored the winner and added two more goals and an assist in the Orediggers’ 7-0 win at home against Colorado Christian on Sunday.

This season, Nelson has scored a team-leading eight goals and has tallied three assists. He tied for first in the RMAC in game-winning goals (three), ranks second in points (19), is tied for second in goals and ranks fourth in points per game (1.36) and goals per game (0.57).

The 14th-ranked Orediggers (10-1-3, 6-1-1 RMAC) will host No. 6 Fort Lewis College at 3:30 p.m. Friday, and Mesa State College at noon Sunday. Both games will be played at the Colorado School of Mines Soccer Stadium.

MORE AWARDS FOR MINES: Orediggers striker Kayla Mitchell was named the RMAC offensive player of the week for the second consecutive week, the third time this season and the sixth time in her career. Mitchell, a senior forward from Ontario, Ore., scored in Mines’ 1-0 win at Colorado Christian on Friday then recorded her third hat trick in four games and her fourth hat trick of the season in a 4-0 win Sunday at Nebraska-Kearney. Mitchell has seven career hat tricks. She leads the RMAC in goals (20), points (45) and winning goals (10), is tied for first in goals per game (1.33) and points per game (3.00) and is tied for fifth in assists (5). In Division II, Mitchell is tied for fourth in goals per game and ranks seventh in points per game. She has scored a goal in 11 of 15 games this season and has multiple goals in five games.

MPSF HONORS AIR FORCE SENIOR: Josh Rhynard has been named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation co-Player of the Week after registering two goals and one assist in the Falcons’ 6-3 win over Missouri-Kansas City on Monday. Rhynard shared the award with UNLV junior forward Stephen Sifuentes, who scored two unassisted goals in a 4-2 home win over Houston Baptist on Sunday. Rhynard’s goals came in the 29th and 48th minutes, the third and fifth goals for Air Force. His assist came on Kyle Moses’ winning goal in the ninth minute. Rhynard took over the team’s scoring lead with his performance. He now has three goals and three assists.

SCAC HONORS: Colorado College’s Jordan Reese was named Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference offensive player of the week for his career-best eight-point effort in Saturday’s 4-0 homecoming victory over Austin College. Reese scored the Tigers’ first two goals, including what proved to be the sixth winning goal of his career, 12:58 into the first half. he sent a direct kick into the top left corner from 20 yards out. He completed the first multi-goal game of his career a little more than 15 minutes later, when he converted off a pass from senior midfielder Ben Hancock. Reese went on to record the fourth two-assist game of his career, setting up goals by Brendan Douglas and Matt Fechter as CC tied its season high for goals in a game. Reese, who took over the team scoring lead with 15 points, ranks second in the SCAC with seven assists.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY CONTRAST: The Colorado College women are 6-1 on Fridays this season but only 2-4-1 on Sunday. This week, the Tigers host East Carolina on Friday and Marshall on Sunday. Both Conference USA matches start at 2 p.m.

MILESTONE FOR MOUNTAIN LIONS: The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs notched a historic first this week: Three athletes in different sports were honored as players of the week by the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. UCCS has had players from two sports named receive the honors in the same week several times, but never three. That’s now happened as volleyball player Cindy Bathelt and soccer players Adam Liszewski and Kayla Millar were recognized by the league. Liszewsk, a junior from Mesa, Ariz., has compiled 186 consecutive scoreless minutes in goal for UCCS. His back-to-back shutouts against Colorado Christian and CSU-Pueblo led UCCS to its first two-game winning streak of the season. For the season, Liszewski has three shutouts, a 1.93 goals-against average and a 69.2 save percentage. He is the first UCCS men’s soccer player to be named player of the week since Bryan Stoeber in 2007. The last Mountain Lion to be named defensive player of the week was Isaac Kostro on Oct. 3, 2006. Millar, playing in relief of goalkeeper Ashley Armstrong, recorded her second shutout of the season after notching seven saves against New Mexico Highlands in a 1-0 win.

KROENKE TAKING OVER AT ARSENAL: ESPN is reporting that Colorado Rapids owner Stan Kroenke has increased his stake in Arsenal again, edging closer to a full takeover of the club. The Gunners announced on Thursday that Kroenke has spent $1.2 million buying 90 shares to increase his holding from 28.7 percent to 28.9 percent, just short of the threshold of 29.9 percent that would trigger a mandatory offer for the remaining shares. Read the full story here.

GIBBS TO RETURN: Former Rocky Mountain News writer Pat Rooney reports on MLSnet.com that Rapids defender Cory Gibbs is scheduled to return to the lineup on Saturday at Dallas. Gibbs suffered a torn quadriceps muscle on Aug. 30, but he received a measure of relief when an exam revealed the injury was a second-degree tear, rather than a more serious third-degree tear. Read Rooney’s full story here.

PICKENS TO RETURN? Rooney also writes that goalkeeper Matt Pickens has recovered from his strained knee and could return Saturday, putting Rapids coach Gary Smith in the position of having to choose between Pickens and Preston Burpo. Read Rooney’s goalkeeping story here.

CUE THE AUDIO: Here is the American Soccer Minute’s 60-second look at week 31 in Major League Soccer. Click on this link to listen to the audio file.

DYNAMITE PRESEASON SCHEDULE: The Denver Dynamite announced its 2009 preseason schedule, which features three games at the Westridge Recreation Center in Highlands Ranch, the official training center of the team. Denver’s first preseason game at 7 p.m. Saturday, the second annual Dynamite Yellow & Blue intersquad match. On Oct. 24, the match against Edwards Freedom FC will be marked with a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the new turf at the Westridge Recreagtion Center. The third game, on Nov. 1, will see will see the beginning of an I-25 rivalry with PASL-Pro provisional team the Fort Collins Fury. Admission to all games will be free, thanks to the Westridge Recreation Center and Highlands Ranch Community Association. The Westridge Recreation Center is at 9650 S. Foothills Canyon Blvd. in Highlands Ranch.

DYNAMITE SIGNINGS: The Dynamite announced the signing of five players as it continues to fill out its 25-man roster for the 2009-10 Professional Arena Soccer League season, which kicks off Nov. 14, when the San Diego Sockers visit Denver. Forward Aaron King joins Denver after a spending a season with the United Soccer League First Division Miami FC. King has also played for the Charleston Battery, Carolina Railhawks and the Colorado Rapids (MLS). The Dynamite also signed former Colorado Lightning midfielder Roby Monroe; Travis Carey, who trained with the Dynamite last year; midfielder Justin Stones; and goalkeeper Brett O’Connor.

DIVISION II REGIONAL WOMEN’S RANKINGS: Here are the Central Region rankings, according to the NCAA:
1. Metro State
2. Minnesota State-Mankato
3. Colorado School of Mines
4. Fort Lewis
5. Regis
6. Winona State
7. Minnesota Duluth
8. Mesa State
9. Colorado Christian
10. St. Cloud State

DIVISION II REGIONAL MEN’S RANKINGS: Here are the Central Region rankings, according to the NCAA:
Central Region Rankings
1. Fort Lewis
2. Colorado School of Mines
3. Metro State
4. Regis

On Sept. 18, Rapids striker Conor Casey scored a second-half goal on a penalty kick at San Jose. The Earthquakes were upset at the referee’s decision to award the PK to Colorado. They were angry at the result, a tie.

In the Rapids’ next game, also against San Jose, Casey scored on a second-half penalty kick as the Rapids came away with another tie. The Quakes were frustrated at the outcome, once again not happy with the call.

On Saturday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, it was New England’s turn.

Casey scored on a PK, his third in the past four matches, in the 58th minute as the Rapids tied the Revolution 1-1 in Commerce City. Emmanuel Osei’s foul on Omar Cummings in the penalty area set up Colorado’s tying score.

After the match, New England coach Steve Nicol was still shaking his head about referee Baldomero Toledo’s decision to award the penalty.

“The decision against us with the penalty was just wrong, wrong,” Nicol said. “We’ve come away thinking we should’ve won the game. … Disappointed to only get a point, even more disappointed that it was a bad decision.”

But if the Revs were upset about that call, the Rapids were not thrilled with another decision by Toledo, one that should’ve provided New England with an edge over the last 30 minutes of play.

At the hour mark, Rapids defender Julien Baudet was jostling with New England’s Kheli Dube, and Baudet was incited by some action on Dube’s part. Baudet made a large sweeping motion toward Dube with his arm, an attempt to put some distance between him and the Revolution forward.

Dube, though, fell to the ground. And the swing of the arm and the player on the pitch added up to a red card for Baudet.

“It’s been my experience that if you raise your arm, you might get yourself into trouble,” Baudet said. “But I’m pretty sure he did get a meal out of it.”

New England, though, couldn’t manage to possess the ball for any worthwhile period after the Rapids were forced to play with only 10 men on the field. And, in fact, it was the Rapids who had the best chance of the final half hour.

With about two minutes to play, Colorado defender Kosuke Kimura passed forward to Casey, who slipped around his marker and streaked toward goal. Casey spotted Omar making a run and passed to his forward partner. Omar got in tight enough to shoot with accuracy and power, but his shot smacked off the crossbar.

Nicol praised the Rapids for their work rate after Baudet’s ejection.

“I don’t think you could tell which team played a man down and which team didn’t,” he said.

Nicol’s squad got on the board first. Dube headed in a free kick from Kenny Mansally 30 minutes into the game.

The game was the Rapids’ fourth straight tie, and it extended the team’s scoring frustrations. Although Casey registered his 16th goal of the season, Colorado hasn’t scored a goal during the run of play since Sept. 12.

And the team hasn’t won since Sept. 5. Perhaps there’s some connection.

SEEN AT THE STADIUM: Former U.S. national teamer Mike Burns, who is now the Revolution’s vice president in charge of player personnel.

SCARY MOMENTS: On a corner kick just seconds before the end of first-half stoppage time, Shalrie Joseph came flying in from the left side. He missed the ball, but his momentum carried him down and into the back of Omar Cummings’ legs. Cummings and Joseph both lay on the turf long after all the players returned to the locker room. Omar got up after a few minutes and shook it off, but Joseph didn’t get up until less than 10 minutes before the second half began. Joseph started the second half and appeared fine. Official word was that he suffered a neck sprain.

ATTENDANCE MATTERS: Not a bad crowd on Saturday. It’s NFL season. It’s college football season. It’s still baseball season. High school sports of all kinds are in full swing. But Dick’s Sporting Goods Park was proudly well-attended. The south stands were packed, as was the west side of the stadium. There were so many fans on the east side it was difficult to read the COLORADO spelled out with white seats. Not a bad turnout for October. Official count: 16,535.

WEATHER MATTERS: It was cloudy and 59 degrees when the match began, at 7 p.m.

YELLOW CARD FOR BEING SHALLOW AND PEDANTIC: Toledo could’ve received a yellow card of his own for making such a ticky-tack decision when he showed a yellow to Mehdi Ballouchy in the third minute. Ballouchy was cautioned for delaying a restart. A whistle? Certainly. A yellow card? Petty.

SAME PLAYER, DIFFERENT SHADE OF BLUE: Former Rapids midfielder Nico Colaluca, traded to the Revs in midseason, had played in only three games and started none before Saturday. Ain’t it funny how things have a way of coming full circle? There he was in the Revs’ starting lineup at Dick’s. And Colaluca wanted to prove something. When he made Burpo dive to his right on a long shot in the 44th minute, he slapped his hands together strongly to show his displeasure at not scoring.

OVERHEARD: Rapids defender Rob Valentino, who was acquired in the trade for Colaluca, was getting the business from his former teammates in the hallway between the teams’ locker room: “So that’s what passes for game-day attire now?”

REVS STARTERS: Matt Reis, Kevin Alston, Darrius Barnes, Emmanuel Osei, Sainey Nyassi, Nico Colaluca, Shalrie Joseph, Pat Phelan, Amaechi Igwe, Kheli Dube, Kenny Mansally.

RAPIDS STARTERS: Preston Burpo, Drew Moor, Julien Baudet, Scott Palguta, Jordan Harvey, Kosuke Kimura, Nick LaBrocca, Pablo Mastroeni, Mehdi Ballouchy, Conor Casey, Omar Cummings.

SHORT SLEEVES: Baudet, Moor, Harvey, Kimura, Noonan, Casey, LaBrocca, Pablo.

LONG SLEEVES: Ballouchy, Cummings. I don’t really have a point here; I just think it’s interesting.

George Tanner is a former writer and editor for the Rocky Mountain News; the Greeley Tribune; The Daily Independent of Ridgecrest, Calif.; the Durango Herald; and the Boulder Daily Camera. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado and an affiliate professor at Metropolitan State College of Denver. E-mail him at ColoradoSoccerNow@gmail.com.

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