Put a Fork in It, It's Officially Over

It took a lot longer than I think many people expected it to, but the Wizards are now officially eliminated from the playoff race. The Wizards were eliminated before they even took the field against Seattle after Toronto's win over Salt Lake yesterday. Still it wouldn't have mattered, as the Wizards blew another lead and once again lost at home, this time to Seattle, 3-2 last night.

Seattle started the brighter of the two sides, with Fredy Montero having a shot saved with a good reflex save by Kevin Hartman. Hartman covered up the rebound before a Seattle player could get there. Their bright start was rewarded in the 27th minute when Tyrone Marshall scored off of a rebound after a Freddie Ljungberg corner. The goal has to fall on Hartman, as he had no one marking up on his near post. This allowed Ljungberg to attempt to put it in directly from the corner, forcing Hartman to scramble to keep the ball out. Marshall was there waiting for the rebound and made no mistake. Poor choice by Hartman.

KC had a penalty shout turned down soon afterwords, as Zoltan Hercegfalvi was knocked over going for a ball in the air, but no call was made. It was only a quick reprieve, as Seattle took control of the game back and were unlucky not to make it 2 or even 3-0 before half time. Steve Zakuani hit the cross bar from about 30 yards out as he tried to chip Hartman after he got played in behind the Wizards defense. Not soon after that, the cross bar saved the Wizards again, as Nate Jaqua put a header off the cross bar.

In the second half, KC started to get into the game a little bit more and tied the game early in the first half thanks to Hercegfalvi. He raced onto a shot/cross by Michael Harrington that was going wide and redirected it into the net. The Wizards continued with the pressure and took the lead only 2 minutes after equalizing, this time through Josh Wolff, who got his foot to Davy Arnaud's cross into the box to make it 2-1 Wizards.

Seattle started to push back, and Montero pushed a shot just wide of the post only minutes after Wolff's goal. In the 69th minute, Seattle found the equalizer through Roger Levesque after a Ljungberg corner. Levesque had gotten around Harrington and had an easy header into the net to tie the game. Zakuani had a few good chances to make it 3-2 Seattle, once pushing his shot just wide of the post and a second when he tried to go "5-hole" on Hartman, but Hartman was able to get down fast enough. Soon after that attempt, Seattle found the winner. Ljungberg challenged Matt Besler down the line, shrugged him off the ball before going in towards goal down the end line. Jimmy Conrad commited to cover Ljungberg, who was able to pick out an unmarked Nate Jaqua who had an empty net to shoot for to make it 3-2 Seattle. KC wasn't able to find a winner and Seattle became the third straight team to clinch a playoff spot against the Wizards.

Wizards Man of the Match - Josh Wolff - Hit a career high with his 11th league goal last night.

Player Ratings - Hartman 4, Leathers 3, Conrad 5, Besler 4, Harrington 4, Arnaud 4, Zusi 4, Jewsbury 4, Lopez 5, Hercegfalvi 5, Wolff 5. Subs Myers 4, Kamara 4, Espinoza 4.