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		Quakes fall to FC Dallas 2-1 By Randy Leighton October 7, 2009

	The Earthquakes played their last home game tonight in Santa Clara, facing off with FC Dallas for a late season showdown between the league’s bottom ranked teams. To the dismay of their home crowd, they would lose 2-1 to a late game heart-stopper goal. Before the game started, the team issued yearly awards to honor their top players. Ryan Johnson, who scored 10 goals to date, won the team MVP award. Chris Leitch, new to the team this year, won the Defender of the Year award. Topping it off, Shea Salinas won the humanitarian of the year for his efforts off the field. The first half started off at a surprisingly relaxed pace as both teams started to find their rhythms. FC Dallas started the shots on goal in the 3rd minute, with a foretell of things to come. Jeff Cunningham, a speedy forward, took many long passes during the half, and created a threat on Cannon as he near defeated the defenders on speed alone. FC Dallas had one of the best opportunities a few minutes later, in the ninth, as he beat Joe Cannon on a slow roller that was heading to go in the net. Brandon McDonald was able to catch the ball and kick it out before it went in, denying FC Dallas a goal. San Jose’s offense caught their second win, taking over about the last 15 minutes of the half, putting many strong scoring attempts on Dario Sala. Unfortunately, the Quakes just couldn’t get the ball to hit the back of the net. Just into the start of the second half, FC Dallas would use the Cunningham speed as he drew the defenders and passed by them to a sprinting David Ferreira, who would break through and take an easy shot on the net after Cannon dived and missed. The Quakes would find their mark finally in the 73rd minute as Shea Salinas got a look at Quincy Amarikwa and sent a long pass up the right side. Amarikwa would have just enough time to bring it down and lob it past Dallas keeper Dario Sala for a goal. This marked a turning point in the half for both teams, FC Dallas came out of their defensive slumber and the Quakes made every effort to capitalize on the momentum shift. FC Dallas would put the go-ahead goal up after a frustrating penalty call against Ryan Johnson on the other end of the field gave them possession. They quickly moved it up and got a cross pass over to Ferreira who put a right footed shot past Joe Cannon. The Quakes didn’t recover quick enough from their frustration on that call, and it cost them dearly. Head Coach Frank Yallop brought the usually dynamic Cornell Glen in the 87th minute, but that would be too little, too late as the Quakes would watch the time clock tick away into stoppage time. Just before stoppage time ended, the Quakes had a corner kick that they pulled everyone up, including the keeper. As the ball came over, it was Joe Cannon who almost got the header goal, right up in the face of opposing keeper Dario Sala, but the ball would get kicked out and the play stopped. Unfortunately for the Quakes, their 4-game undefeated streak would come to an end on their last home game of the season. Without a win, they should not have any chance of making the playoffs now.