- (Sports Network) - After battling to a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their Major League Soccer Eastern Conference Semifinal Series vs. the Supporters' Shield winning Columbus Crew, Kansas City Wizards coach Curt Onalfo admits it feels like his team is coming off a loss. "In some ways this does [feel like a loss] but we don't have time to worry about that," he said. "What we're doing is focusing all of our energy on getting ready for Saturday's game. We've got to regroup, get it out of our system and move on."

The Wizards held a 1-0 advantage in the first leg last Saturday at CommunityAmerica Ballpark after a Davy Arnaud goal, but second-half substitute Steven Lenhart scored the equalizer two minutes into stoppage time for the Crew. The late goal ensures the clubs will be on equal ground heading into the deciding leg of the home-and-home, total goals series this Saturday at Crew Stadium.

"It was a hard-fought game. We said from the beginning this series is just a 180-minute game. Right now after 90 minutes, it's even. I'm disappointed because I felt we should have walked out of [CommunityAmerican Ballpark] with a win and a one-goal advantage, but we didn't," Onalfo said. "Nobody ever said this stuff is going to be easy. We know we have a difficult challenge going into [Crew Stadium] where they've been very, very good. Having said that, I believe in these guys in this locker room. We've been through worse than this and we'll find a way to rebound from this."

Crew coach Sigi Schmid knows how important that late equalizer was, especially with his team not playing its best in its first playoff game in four years.

"I think to get the first game under our belt knowing we didn't play our best game and being able to come out on equal footing at the end of the day, I think that was very important for our team," he said.

The Crew were aided in the first leg by the fact that they played with an extra man for the final 15 minutes after Wizards forward Herculez Gomez was given a red card, meaning he also won't be available for the return leg.

"I put my team in a bad position," Gomez said. "I put the referee in a position where he had to make a tough call and unfortunately it didn't go our way. I'm just extremely disappointed in myself for the position that I put my team in."

Top-seeded Columbus is the heavy favorite at home, where it had a much better record in the regular season, going 11-2-2, including a win and a draw vs. the No. 4 seeded Wizards this season. But it can't count the Wizards out, especially after the Kansas City knocked off the West's top-seeded Chivas USA a year ago in the first round of the playoffs.

"We're definitely excited to go there and play," Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman said. "We did enough offensively the last time we were there to get a win. Unfortunately we had some defensive mistakes and they were able to capitalize on it [and earn a 3-3 draw]. They're a very, very good team. We just want to get a win. They had the better of us in the series this year, and we're looking forward to having the opportunity to play well, and satisfy not only ourselves but our fans as well and try to move on to the next round."

Wizards forward Josh Wolff is also listed as doubtful with a leg injury despite the fact that he played over 20 minutes in the first leg. Columbus' Brian Plotkin is the only player on its injury report.



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