KANSAS CITY, Sept. 8 -- Roy Lassiter's goal in the 36th minute held up Saturday night as the Kansas City Wizards celebrated a playoff berth with a 1-0 blanking of the San Jose Earthquakes.
The defending MLS champions clinched a spot in the postseason earlier in the day when Miami defeated D.C. United.
Lassiter hammered in his team-leading seventh goal when he beat goalkeeper Jon Conway from six yards. Chris Klein's throw-in into the right corner found Gary Glasgow, who blew past the defense and slid the ball to an on-rushing Lassiter. His goal ended Kansas City's 326-minute scoreless drought against San Jose.
The Earthquakes sat All-Stars Jeff Agoos, Landon Donovan and Joe Cannon. Coach Frank Yallop decided to give Conway his first start in goal this season, replacing Cannon. Donovan entered in the 69th minute while Agoos did not see action. He played the entire match for the United States against Costa Rica on Wednesday while Donovan was a second-half substitute in the disappointing 2-0 World Cup qualifying loss.
Jamaican National team forward Onandi Lowe did not play for Kansas City.
In a relatively even first half, Lassiter had Kansas City's only other scoring threat when Klein slotted the speedy forward a nice ball in the middle of the box in the 28th minute. But Lassiter's shot goal was deflected by a sliding Zak Ibsen.
San Jose's top scoring chance came in the 34th minute when Manny Lagos broke past the defense and forced Tony Meola to make a diving save.
The crowd of 20,734 was the second-largest in the Wizards' history.
