Quakes look to get back to winning ways at Rapids

After breaking a club record in an emphatic victory last week, the Colorado Rapids remain at home on Saturday night to try to avenge their most recent defeat, against the San Jose Earthquakes.

Kei Kamara's hat trick powered the Rapids to a 6-3 victory over the Montreal Impact last Saturday, marking the first time Colorado had ever scored six goals in an MLS contest.

The win snapped a four-game winless streak for the Rapids (6-12-5, 23 points), who remain last in the Western Conference, 10 points beneath the playoff line with 11 games to play. Individually, Kamara surpassed double-digit goals for the sixth time in his MLS career, now sitting on 11.

The week before, Colorado absorbed a 3-1 loss at San Jose, which went ahead on an early own goal and eventually built their lead to three before Colorado snagged a late consolation.

"It's definitely a good lesson for us that we can't start games the way that we did," Rapids coach Conor Casey said of that game. "We have no wiggle room right now. We have to perform every single moment of every game. So that's the message. We've got to come out from minute 1 on the front foot and have that kind of mentality for 90 minutes."

Meanwhile, the Earthquakes had their four-game winning streak snapped last weekend when they settled for a 1-1 draw against the Columbus Crew.

San Jose (11-7-5, 38 points) got a first-half goal on a penalty kick from Magnus Eriksson, and it outshot Columbus 19-9. However, the Quakes couldn't find a winning goal after the Crew equalized through Gyasi Zardes in the 65th minute.

The Quakes still sit in a three-way tie on points for second place in the West, though it doesn't look as if anyone will catch red-hot Los Angeles FC, which is 14 points in front.

"I thought we possessed the ball well," San Jose midfielder Tommy Thompson said of the draw last Saturday. "We created a lot of chances again, and I think we're consistently putting teams on the back foot, so that's a huge positive for us. We've got to make sure we're tidy in transition. But I'm just as confident as I've ever been this year."

--Field Level Media