After each side combined to create only a few bright chances in the first 45 minutes, the second half began with more energized and more cohesive play. Still, no goals had come. Enter Wolff, who took the basic and created the beautiful.
Running near post for a low Herculez Gomez cross from the right, Wolff cleared the way to deflect the cross for a teammate by bodying his defender away from the ball with a left to right twist of his body. As he spun, Wolff hit the pacy ball purposefully with his right foot.
"I was able to get just enough of it," a grinning Wolff said afterwards. "It doesn't always come off, but we were happy to see that one go in."
Indeed, after the ball rolled by a confounded Josh Wicks in the Galaxy goal and into the far netting, Wolff ripped off his jersey in a raucous celebration.
The goal would have been a strong candidate for Sierra Mist Goal of the Week if it wasn't for what came next.
Davy Arnaud put the Wizards firmly in the driver's seat with a 33-yard bomb into the upper right corner of L.A.'s net to give the Wizards an insurmountable two-goal lead in the 69th minute.
"Davy just goes for the throat," Onalfo said. "That's his mentality. He's going to give you everything he has. It was an unbelievable goal; that has to be goal of the week."
The goal, Arnaud's fifth of the season, tied him for the team lead in goals with Wizards captain Jimmy Conrad. "I don't remember one that I hit any better than that," Arnaud said.
When asked if he was aiming for the right corner, Arnaud quipped, "I would like to say yes, but it's just one you try and hit hard on target."
The magical strikes, though, were supported by the type of magic the Wizards have been searching for all season.
"It was eleven guys committed to playing for each other and working extremely hard on the field," Onalfo said of his team shutting down the high-powered Galaxy. "It was an extremely hard-fought game. Bruce has L.A. playing extremely well."
If the match had held to what has been the pattern for most of the season, the Wizards would have given up a goal and had a harrowing last 15 minutes trying to hold onto the win. But the Wizards did it right on this night.
"I was extremely pleased with how we managed the rest of the game," Onalfo said. "We possessed it better towards the end, and we showed some good composure in the fact that we shut out what everybody talks about as the best attack in Major League Soccer."
Doing it on both sides of the ball consistently must now be the rule, not the exception. The Wizards remain four points out of playoff position following D.C. United's 2-2 draw with FC Dallas Saturday night and the New York Red Bulls' 2-1 victory over Real Salt Lake.
"[It's] a huge boost of confidence as we go into our last six games of the season, four of which are at home," Onalfo said. "We've positioned ourselves well. Hopefully we'll get a little bit of luck with results later on tonight.
"We're taking it one game at a time. We have a calm confidence about us; we have a belief. I never doubted this group for a second. What that does is give us a little confidence. We have a lot of work to do, but we have group of guys who are going to put everything on the line, and we're going to do our best to see if we can't do the same next weekend."
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