San Jose Earthquakes   0-1   Houston Dynamo

Preseason game - San Jose , Calif. ; PAL Stadium - Attendance: 3,182

An encouraging loss

The San Jose Earthquakes officially made their on-field return to the Bay Area on Wednesday night at PAL Stadium in a 1-0 loss to the Houston Dynamo. Ricardo Clark scored the game’s only goal to give the defending MLS Cup Champions the victory over the home team.

The Dynamo struck for their goal just before halftime after a scramble in front of the net. Dwayne De Rosario served a ball in the box for Chris Wondolowski, who knocked the ball across the goalmouth. Clark got free from the defense and drove a shot past Quakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon and into the back of the net.

Down 1-0, the Earthquakes came out and applied some pressure to attempt to get back into the game.

  In the 58th minute, rookie Shea Salinas had a great opportunity to tie the game for the Quakes. Ivan Guerrero sent a cross into the box that was headed down by Taylor Graham before being deflected to the top of the box. Salinas ripped a low shot that was smothered by Dynamo goalkeeper Tony Caig.

Matt Taylor nearly evened the score for the Quakes in the 72nd minute on a free kick. Taylor lined up the free kick from the 22 yards out and ripped a low shot to the near post. Caig dove to his right to make the save and keep the Dynamo in front

With 10 minutes left, Yuri Morales cracked a volley that appeared headed for the back of the net, but Caig leapt to tip the ball over the bar. The play started with a free kick from the right wing. The knock down came to Morales and he unloaded a volley that nearly tied the game.

A minute later, the Dynamo’s James Georgeff got free behind the Earthquakes defense and tested Burpo with a low shot to the near post. Burpo stood his ground and then dove to his left to make the save.

The Quakes and Dynamo play a second exhibition game on Saturday, Feb. 16 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco . The match kicks off at 7 p.m. PT. To purchase tickets, call (408) 556-7700 or visit www.sjearthquakes.com.

Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop, said: “It was a good start for us. The guys put forth a good effort and we created some good chances to score, especially in the second half. We have a solid core right now and we need to keep building. I am happy with where we are at right now and we just need to keep getting better from here.”

SJ - GK Joe Cannon (Preston Burpo, 46th), D James Riley (Chris Roner, 64th), D Nick Garcia (Taylor Graham, 46th), D Jason Hernandez (Jay Ayres, 64th), D Chris Pozniak (Greg Curry, 64th) (Robert Sandoval, 75th), M Shea Salinas (Adam Smarte, M Joe Vide (Eric Denton, 46th), M Ned Grabavoy (Fabrice Noel, 64th), M Ivan Guerrero (Tim Bohnenkamp, 64th), F Gavin Glinton (Yuri Morales, 46th), F Kei Kamara (Matt Taylor, 64th).

Scoring Summary

HOU – Clark (Wondolowski, C., De Rosario), 44th.

Cautions/Ejections

HOU - Jeremy Barlow (yellow), 74th.

Statistics

Shots: HOU – 15, SJ – 13

Shots on Goal: HOU – 5, SJ – 5

Saves: HOU – 5, SJ – 4

Fouls: HOU – 14, SJ – 11

Corners: HOU – 4, SJ – 5

Offside: HOU – 5, SJ - 0

Source: S.J. Earthquakes