CHARLESTON, S.C. – We've seen it plenty of times before. Adam Moffat (above) nailing the upper 90 with a long distance laser shot.
His latest masterpiece on Wednesday night was also good enough to cap a Houston Dynamo comeback and down the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1 in Matchday 2 of the Carolina Challenge Cup.
"I'm thinking of making a DVD," Moffat said in jest after the match about his latest in a series of highlight-reel goals. "I'd need to score a few more goals to do that. But yeah, there have been some nice goals and that was another good one."
READ: Dynamo top Vancouver 2-1 in CCC preseason tournament
WATCH: Moffat's playoff goal vs. Sporting
Even Vancouver manager Martin Rennie, who coached Moffat at minor league Cleveland City Stars, tipped his cap at the blast.
"I think Adam is fantastic," Rennie said after the match. "I've said it before: He's one of the favorite players I've coached. He scored a lot of goals when I coached him and he's got a great strike. … It was an excellent shot."
It was a just reward for a Dynamo performance that had its lone real blemish come on an errant back pass from defender Jermaine Taylor which led to a first-half goal by Vancouver's Corey Hertzog.
Houston still maintained their edge even after manager Dominic Kinnear proceeded to switch out every field player by the 73rd minute. Starting midfielder Ricardo Clark was still unavailable due to a slow-healing swollen knee after a collision in last Saturday's opener of the Carolina Challenge Cup match against Chicago.
"The subs that came on at the end made a big difference for us," Kinnear noted after the match in reference to the goals scored by Will Bruin and Moffat just minutes after entering the match. But Kinnear also highlighted the play of starters Jason Johnson up top and the always-active Alex Dixon at left mid.
WATCH: Moffat's game-winner vs. LA
The likes of Dixon and Johnson will be needed in 2013. Although the starters may have rescued the Dynamo on Saturday, Kinnear knows that the Dynamo's upcoming season will only go as far as their squad depth can take them.
"Expectations are the same," Kinnear said. "If anything is different, we know we have a lot of games this year and we start off with a game against Santos [Laguna, in the CONCACAF Champions League] right after D.C. United [to open the MLS regular season]. it's going to be tough, as we know."
Moffat is not too worried. There's plenty of motivation for 2013.
"We've got a real good team this year and plenty of depth," Moffat said. "I think we're kind of feeling a bit of the disappointment of the last two years [in MLS Cup final losses].
"I think this year we've got a little bit something to prove. We want to do better in the regular season. … We've got that to prove and finish in a better spot."
