Kansas City, KS (SportsNetwork.com) - Dominic Dwyer's second-half penalty kick held up as the winner on Saturday as defending MLS Cup champions Sporting Kansas City earned a 1-0 result over the San Jose Earthquakes at Sporting Park.
With both clubs coming off disappointing results in the CONCACAF Champions League in midweek, it was a tepid first half as the sides failed to generate many quality scoring opportunism and went into the break on level terms.
The breakthrough came for the hosts in the 57th minute as the ball popped up in the penalty area and was handled by San Jose's Steven Lenhart, resulting in a penalty kick.
Dwyer stepped up and buried his strike into the bottom right corner, giving the champions the lead.
San Jose's best opportunity came with 20 minutes to play when Chris Wondolowski ran onto a loose ball in the penalty area, but he topped his shot and the ball rolled harmlessly wide of the left post.
The 'Quakes continued to send numbers forward in search of an equalizer, but there would be no late heroics as Sporting came away with its first win of the young season.
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