Weekly Recap

RESULTS

THURSDAY

New England 2 Houston 1

FRIDAY

Real Salt Lake 0 Portland 0

SATURDAY

Montreal 1 Toronto 1
FC Dallas 1 Colorado 0
Philadelphia 2 Sporting KC 1
DC United 2 Chicago 1
Vancouver 0 San Jose 0

SUNDAY

Columbus 3 New York 1
Seattle 2 Los Angeles 2


Notable Goals Scored by:

Lee Nguyen (New England) - Nguyen made it goals in three straight matches with a brace against Houston, bringing the Revs back from a 1-0 deficit and giving them a full three points with a 2-1 win. Nguyen now has 17 goals on the year, tops among Americans in MLS.

Giles Barnes (Houston) - The English Premier League veteran made it 11 goals on the year with his rebound finish in their loss to New England. Barnes has been on a tear lately scoring in three straight matches and six times since September 6th.

Warren Creaville (Toronto FC) - Traded from Houston to Toronto in essence for DaMarcus Beasley, Creaville's goal against Montreal was his first since the move.

Blas Perez (FC Dallas) - Panama's second all-time leading scorer tied an MLS career high with his 11th goal of the season when he converted a penalty kick against Colorado.

Brian Brown (Philadelphia) - Jamaica's Red Stripe Premier League Reigning Golden Boot Winner made his first career MLS start and scored his second goal since going on loan to the Union in July.

Dom Dwyer (Sporting KC) - Dwyer knocked in a penalty against Philadelphia to give him 22 goals on the year, second behind New York's Bradley Wright-Phillips. Dwyer has now scored in 5 of Sporting's last 6 matches and in 7 of their last 10.

Chris Pontius (DC United) - Pontius, who scored 12 goals back in 2012, scored his first goal of the season. After missing the season's first six months following hamstring surgery, Pontius finally debuted on September 10th. This was just his sixth appearance and third start of the season.

Harry Shipp (Chicago) - Rookie of the Year candidate Shipp scored his 7th goal of the season and first since early July in a losing effort against DC United.

Aaron Schoenfeld (Columbus) - Schoenfeld had just 2 goals over his first three MLS seasons before doubling that total against New York on Sunday.

Ethan Finlay (Columbus) - Finlay stayed red hot scoring his 11th goal of the season and adding a pair of assists in Columbus's 3-1 win over New York. He has now scored in 4 straight matches for the Crew, and in 5 of the last 6.

Baggio Husidic (LA Galaxy) - If not for some second half heroics from Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins, Husidic had a chance to be the unlikely hero in one of the MLS's biggest games of the season scoring his fifth goal of the season and assisting on another goal to give LA a 2-0 lead over Seattle.

Clint Dempsey (Seattle) - Dempsey continued his best MLS season with his 15th goal, but still is an assist away from joining the double-double club. He also earned a yellow card for taking out Landon Donovan.

Shutouts by:

Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake) - With 6 saves versus Portland on Friday night, Rimando recorded the 114th shutout of his MLS career and his first since breaking Kevin Hartman's record against DC United in August. It's Rimando's 6th shutout of the season.

Donovan Ricketts (Portland) - Needing a win against Real Salt Lake, Ricketts did all he could for the Timbers making 3 saves to give the Timbers every opportunity to come away with 3 points. It was Ricketts' second consecutive shutout and 6th of the season. He ranks 10th all-time in MLS with 52 shutouts.

Raul Fernandez (FC Dallas) - Peruvian Keeper Fernandez needed to make just one save to earn his 4th shutout of the season. Fernandez started the MLS All-Star Game in 2013.

Jon Busch (San Jose) - The MLS leader in saves with 135 made just one save, but it was enough to earn his 6th shutout of the season and the 82nd of his career. Busch now needs just 4 shutouts to tie another San Jose keeper, Joe Cannon, for third most all-time in MLS history. Busch's 135 saves are the most by an MLS keeper since Nick Rimando made 146 saves for RSL back in 2007. San Jose in winless since upsetting Seattle on August 2nd.

David Ousted (Vancouver) - Ousted picked up his league leading 12th shutout of the season thanks to three saves against San Jose. Ousted has now posted three straight shutouts as the Whitecaps try to hang on to the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Playoffs and Champions League Implications:

Toronto FC was eliminated from contention with their draw against Montreal allowing the Columbus Crew to clinch the final Eastern Conference Playoff berth. DC United meanwhile clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference and a trip to the Champions League. Out West a draw between Seattle and LA means that the Galaxy must win in Seattle on Saturday afternoon or the Supporter's Shield goes to the Sounders.

Four of the Five MLS Champions League slots are set with the fifth and final spot set to go to the 2014 MLS Cup Champion. Should one of the teams with a berth already win the Cup, the team with the next best regular season record that isn't already in the tournament (right now FC Dallas) will join them. The four teams to earn berths so far are Seattle (U.S. Open Cup Champion), LA Galaxy (Supporter's Shield or 2nd Best Record if Seattle finishes ahead of them), DC United (Eastern Conference Champion), and Vancouver (Canadian Champion). Normally the Canadian team would win the Canadian Championship to advance, but because of a one-time schedule change, this year's Canadian representative was their top finisher in MLS.