When Reis Gets a Shot, He Stops It for Galaxy

It’s only natural that the more Matt Reis plays, the more at ease he becomes in goal. And the better the results for the Galaxy.

Reis, a former career back-up, will start in goal today at Kansas City for the seventh time in eight Major League Soccer matches and is coming off his first shutout of the year, a 1-0 Galaxy victory last weekend at Chicago.

“Absolutely you get more comfortable,” said Reis, who had six saves on a rain-slick artificial surface against the Fire. “You see certain situations in practice and then you see certain situations in games and the ones in the games are completely different from practice. So the more games you get and at the higher level, the more comfortable you feel. With more experience and playing in different places, it all helps.”

Reis, 27, ranks third in MLS with a 0.79 goals-against-average and, with a record of 4-0-2, he is the only goalkeeper in the league to have played at least 150 minutes and not lost a match.

The Galaxy’s only loss was with Kevin Hartman in goal, though Hartman, 28, is a former league goalkeeper of the year and was the first to have consecutive seasons (1999-2000) when he averaged less than one goal given up a game.

“We haven’t lost with [Reis] in goal and as I’ve said all along, I have confidence in Matt and I have confidence in Hartman,” said Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid, who also coached both at UCLA.

“I think we’re blessed with two good goalkeepers. It’s a little like [Brad] Friedel and [Kasey] Keller [with the U.S. national team]. “We can win with either goalkeeper and right now it’s Matt’s turn.”

Kansas City will be without its starting goalkeeper, Tony Meola, who is the United States’ third goalkeeper for the World Cup.

Two weeks ago, the Galaxy scored twice off Meola’s backup, Bo Oshoniyi, in a 2-1 overtime victory at Arrowhead Stadium.

“Hopefully we’ll go off the last game and try to limit their scoring opportunities,” Reis said. “Our defense has done a good job of that this year.”

The Galaxy’s defense will get a lift today with defender Ezra Hendrickson returning to the lineup after a lengthy stay on the sidelines because of a strained right hamstring.

But midfielder Sasha Victorine tweaked his back Thursday at practice and may not play.

“For us, every game is different because we always have different personnel on the field,” Schmid said. “We get Ezra back but we lose Sasha ... so we’re always changing.”