KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Christian Gomez scored early in the second half, givingD.C. United a 1-1 tie with the Kansas City Wizards on Friday night.

United stretched their unbeaten streak to 12 games and moved to 16-6-6 with54 points, five ahead of New England for the Eastern Conference lead.

The Wizards are 10-11-7 (37 points) and stayed in fourth place in theconference. The Wizards could have clinched a playoff berth with a victory ifthe Los Angeles Galaxy and Columbus Crew did not win this weekend.

D.C. had more scoring opportunities in the first half, but found itself in a1-0 hole when, in the 44th minute, Eddie Johnson found Scott Sealy streaking inwith a pass from the right side. Sealy struck a shot from just outside thepenalty area that sneaked just inside the left post.

That held until the 56th minute, when Marc Burch found Gomez at the top ofthe Wizards’ box. Gomez turned quickly and got off a shot before defender TysonWahl could close him down. His shot sailed past diving keeper Kevin Hartman andinside the left post for the equalizer.

With a save of Ben Olsen’s shot in the first minute, Hartman became thethird keeper in MLS history to record 1,000 career saves.