Kansas City, KS – The Houston Dynamo fell to Sporting Kansas City 1-0 at Livestrong Sporting Park on Wednesday but still managed to advance to the Eastern Conference final after winning the opening leg.
Houston emerged from Sunday's opening leg as 2-0 winners, and the club held off Sporting for the first 45 minutes of the return match.
The home side dictated play in the second half of Wednesday's affair as it pushed for an equalizer, and Seth Sinovic made a game of it when he scored in the 64th minute.
Graham Zusi received a pass from Kei Kamara on the right side of the box and chipped a brilliant ball to the back post. Sinovic was arriving to power a diving header past Tally Hall for his first goal of the campaign.
Sporting continued to dominate the possession battle and created a couple of scoring chances in the remaining 26 minutes, but Houston's resolute defense stood tall and denied the top seed an aggregate equalizer.
Houston's Eastern Conference final opponent is unknown after Red Bull New York's tilt with D.C. United was postponed and rescheduled for Thursday night because of a steady accumulation of snow.
With the Dynamo finishing the regular season in fifth place, they will host the opening leg of the Eastern Conference final, scheduled for Sunday at 4 p.m. ET.
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