Casey scores in 51st minute to lead Rapids to 1-0 victory over Toronto FC

Casey’s goal lifts Rapids past Toronto FC, 1-0

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — Conor Casey scored in the 51st minute to lead the Colorado Rapids to a 1-0 victory over Toronto FC on Saturday night.

Matt Pickens recorded his seventh shutout of the season and 18th of his career for Colorado (10-7-6), which has won two straight overall and five of six at home.

Casey scored his MLS-leading 12th goal of the year. Omar Cummings passed to Jacob Peterson, who pushed the ball ahead to Casey, whose header sailed past goalkeeper Stefan Frei’s left shoulder.

Casey was supposed to be away with the U.S. team, but two impacted wisdom teeth kept him in Denver. He had the teeth extracted last Monday.

Colorado has shown strong balance at home. The Rapid’s defense has been the best in MLS at home, allowing eight goals in 13 matches. Colorado’s offense has scored 10 goals in its last five home games.

Toronto (8-9-7) failed to score for the fourth consecutive road game and was blanked for the seventh time overall this season.

After Casey’s goal, Pickens denied Toronto of a goal when he smothered a kick by Chad Barrett from a tough angle taken from the side of the left post.

Toronto never challenged again. It’s comeback bid was further hampered when midfielder Amadou Sanyang received a red-card ejection in the 76th minute. Adrian Serioux got a red-card ejection in the 86th minute.

Scoring chances were limited as defense dominated the scoreless first half. The Rapids had three of the four opportunities.

The best came in the 25th minute when Casey hit the middle of the crossbar on a penalty kick from deep inside the scoring area. Frei blocked Mehdi Ballouchy’s shot from the slot in the in the sixth minute and smothered a kick by Jacob Peterson in the 41st.

Pickens caught Toronto’s best chance, a shot by Dwayne De Rosario in the 10th minute.

The Rapids were without captain Pablo Mastroeni, who served the first of a two-game suspension for endangering the safety of Houston’s Andrew Hainault duirng a 1-0 victory over the Dynamo.

Toronto midfielder Amado Guevara missed the game due to his commitment to the Honduran team.

The teams meet again Sept. 11 in Toronto.

Story from: STATS LLC, www.stats.com.