PASADENA, Calif., Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Carlos Ruiz scored his second goal of the match with one minute remaining in overtime Wednesday night as the Los Angeles Galaxy beat the Kansas City Wizards, 3-2, in Game One of their Major League Soccer quarterfinals.
The Galaxy twice rebounded from one-goal deficits in the second half to take a three points to none advantage in the series.
Kansas City's early aggressiveness paid dividends in the 25th minute as Preki took a cross from Chris Brown at the top of the penalty area, avoided a pair of defenders and beat goalkeeper Kevin Hartman. Preki scored three goals against the Western Conference champions during the regular season.
Contained for much of the first half, Ruiz finally made his mark in the 62nd minute, taking a pass from Cobi Jones at the top of the box and beating Nick Garcia one-on-one before being taken down. He converted a penalty kick to tie it at 1-1.
Nine minutes later, Kansas City reclaimed the lead when Brown wedged himself between Ezra Hendrickson and Alexei Lalas to nod home a corner kick from Chris Klein. Igor Simuntenkov could have given the Wizards a two-goal lead, but
failed on a breakaway chance.
Jones leveled the match at 2-2 in the 85th minute, drilling a volley past goalkeeper Tony Meola from 18 yards out after Hendrickson made an acrobatic effort to cross a deflected clearance.
That goal set the stage for Ruiz's heroics in overtime.
The Guatemalan outjumped a host of players inside the penalty area to deftly head the winning goal past Meola. Ruiz led the League with 24 goals during the regular season.
The Wizards continued a dubious trend, falling to 0-2-2 in postseason overtimes to go with as dreadful 0-4-21 mark during regular season overtimes.
The series shifts to Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium for Game Two on Saturday. Kansas City must earn at least a draw at home to force a pivotal Game Three in Pasadena.
