The Kansas City Wizards fell 3-1 Saturday to Houston Dynamo on a hot, humid day in Southern Texas. Houston opened the scoring in the 28th minute and added two more tallies before Davy Arnaud pulled one back late for the Wizards. Arnaud moved into 4th place by himself on the club’s all-time goals list with his 29th career tally in Wizards colors. Goalkeeper Kevin Hartman stopped a season-high seven shots to post the 6th 100-save season in Wizards history. Hartman is on pace to break the MLS career save record and the Wizards single-season save mark this season.

The Wizards nearly opened the scoring in the 6th minute through striker Claudio Lopez. Lopez got in behind the Houston defense after a deft long ball off the foot of strike partner Josh Wolff, and attempted to chip goalkeeper Tony Caig. Caig came quickly off his line, however, and blocked the effort from the former Argentine international wide.

Houston recorded the game’s first goal in the 28th minute after good work from striker Kei Kamara. The Sierra Leone-born forward found himself in behind the Wizards defense after a flick header from strike partner Nate Jaqua. Kamara held the ball up along the end line, then slid it back for outside midfielder Brad Davis in the center of the penalty area. Davis struck the ball hard inside the upper-left corner of the goal from 15 yards out for a 1-0 Dynamo lead.

Dynamo then added goals after halftime from Jaqua in the 54th and 67th minutes to put the match out of reach. Kamara started the first scoring play up the right wing and spun the ball centrally for midfielder Stuart Holden. Holden passed the ball square for Jaqua on the first touch for an easy first-time finish from the middle of the penalty area. Thirteen minutes later, Jaqua took a pass from right back Craig Waibel in behind the Wizards defense and struck a rocket right-footer from 15 yards out into the upper-right corner to put Houston ahead 3-0.

Kansas City continued pushing, eventually pulling back a goal in the 87th minute. Right winger Davy Arnaud got on the end of a bouncing ball inside the penalty area, held off a defender and struck a hard shot inside the back post from close range to create the final 3-1 score line. With the goal, Arnaud moved into 4th place by himself on the team’s all-time goals list. He had been tied with teammate Josh Wolff, Scott Sealy and Digital Takawira on 28 tallies before Sunday’s hard-fought goal.

Kansas City’s next match comes next Saturday, September 13 against the Los Angeles Galaxy. The match will be played at Arrowhead Stadium at 4 p.m. CT and broadcast nationwide on HDNet. International superstar David Beckham is scheduled to make his first-ever appearance in Kansas City. The Wizards are just six points out of the final playoff spot with seven games remaining. Five of Kansas City’s last seven games will be played at home.

Scoring Summary:
HOU – Brad Davis 3 (Kei Kamara 1) 28
HOU – Nate Jaqua 3 (Stuart Holden 4, Kei Kamara 2) 54
HOU – Nate Jaqua 4 (Craig Waibel 3) 67
KC – Davy Arnaud 4 (unassisted) 87

Houston Dynamo Line-Up: Tony Caig, Craig Waibel, Eddie Robinson, Bobby Boswell, Chad Barrett, Brian Mullan, Richard Mulrooney, Stuart Holden, Brad Davis (Corey Ashe 70), Nate Jaqua (Geoff Cameron 83), Kei Kamara

Substitutes not used: Corbin Waller (GK), Patrick Ianni, Kyle Brown, Chris Wondolowski, John Michael Hayden

Kansas City Wizards Line-Up: Kevin Hartman, Chance Myers, Aaron Hohlbein (Abe Thompson 46), Jimmy Conrad, Michael Harrington, Davy Arnaud, Kerry Zavagnin (Carlos Marinelli 46), Jack Jewsbury, Roger Espinoza, Claudio Lopez, Josh Wolff (Herculez Gomez 70)

Substitutes not used: Eric Kronberg (GK), Tyson Wahl, Matt Marquess, Kevin Souter

Misconduct:
KC -- Carlos Marinelli (caution; Unsporting Behavior) 59
 
Referee: Abbey Okulaja
Referee's Assistants: Craig Lowry, James Conlee
4th official: Ramon Hernandez