Simms's 1st Leads to D.C.'s 8th

Streaking United Stays Unbeaten at Home, but Moreno Gets Hurt: United 1, Fire 0

Joshua Gros picked up the dirty sock in his locker last night, and as it dangled from his fingers, he looked at Clyde Simms with mock indignation.

"So you score a goal," Gros said jokingly to his teammate, "and now I have to clean up your socks?"

"Oh, yeah," Simms responded. "Sorry, man. I must have dropped it."

Simms spoke with a smile plastered to his face, one that nothing -- certainly not some misplaced laundry -- could remove. Simms had scored his first career Major League Soccer goal to lift D.C. United to a 1-0 win over the Chicago Fire in front of 12,385 fans at RFK Stadium, a win that avenged a 4-0 loss in last season's playoffs.

Things have changed drastically since. D.C., which hasn't lost since May 6 and is unbeaten at home, sits comfortably atop the Eastern Division at 8-1-5, the best start in team history. The loss dropped the Fire (2-5-5) further into last place.

The news was not all good for D.C. Jaime Moreno, the league's second-highest goal scorer and tops on United with eight goals, left in the 76th minute on a stretcher with what the team called "an unspecified leg injury."

But Simms salvaged the day with his first goal since he joined United as a discovery player in 2005. A defensive midfielder, Simms had taken only 17 shots in the 36 games he had appeared in with United, and none of those had become a goal.

But there was Simms, standing alone 25 yards from the Chicago Fire's net with the ball slowly rolling toward his feet, not a white jersey nearby. Simms cocked his right foot and blasted the ball toward the goal.

Zach Thornton, the Chicago goalkeeper, dived helplessly to his right. The ball screamed into the lower left-hand corner, rippling the net.

"It's very exciting," Simms said. "I got [the ball] right center with my dominant foot. No one stepped up, so I hit."

Since Ben Olsen left to play for the United States in the World Cup, Simms has tried to make a habit of moving forward. Olsen took an offensive approach to midfield, and Simms wants to fill that role with Olsen abroad.

With Moreno out indefinitely and the apparent loss of Lucio Filomeno, who wasn't present last night because of negotiations with an Argentine team, United will need all the offense it can get. And it could have used more last night, too, scoring a lone goal for the third straight game.