Colorado, D.C. United Are Winners

Sean Henderson scored on header in the 42nd minute to give the Colorado Rapids a 1-0 victory over the Dallas Burn on Saturday in Game 1 of Major League Soccer’s best-of-three Western Conference championship series.

It was the first postseason goal against the Burn. The team advanced to the second round after shutting out the Galaxy in two consecutive games.

Dallas tried frantically to tie the score in the last half-minute of the game when the entire team, including goalkeeper Mark Dodd, surged forward on Jason Kreis’ 45-yard free kick. The ball floated over the defensive wall to Damian, whose header clipped the left post and bounced back into play before the rebound was hammered harmlessly into the side netting.

In the Eastern Conference finals, Tony Sanneh’s goal with three seconds remaining in the first half turned out to be crucial in D.C. United’s 3-2 victory over the Columbus Crew in front of 11,820 at RFK Stadium.

United, the defending MLS champion, led 3-0 at the half, thanks to goals from Sanneh in the ninth minute and Raul Diaz Arce in the 29th.

The Crew made it interesting with goals from Jason Farrell in the 57th minute and Thomas Dooley in the 73rd.

United was without playmaker Marco Etcheverry, who played for Bolivia Sunday in a 1-0 World Cup qualifying loss to Ecuador.