WASHINGTON - It should not come as a surprise that Dwayne De Rosario scored the goal that gave the Houston Dynamo its second consecutive MLS Cup title.

What's a surprise is how it was scored.

"I can say that I can't believe Dwayne scored it with his head," coach Dominic Kinnear said after Houston struck for two second-half goals on Sunday to defeat the New England Revolution, 2-1, at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium. "He just doesn't score with his head, not in practice, not ever."

For the second year in a row, the orange-clad Dynamo crushed New England's dream of winning the Major League Soccer title.

The Revolution has been to three straight MLS championship games, and four in the past six years, but has failed to win. New England is owned by Robert K. Kraft, whose other team, the New England Patriots, has been the NFL's dominant team this decade.

"We just didn't take our chances," Revolution coach Steve Nicol said. "They had two chances and scored two goals. We could have scored three or four goals, but we left them hanging around, and that's why we lost, again."

De Rosario, who was named the game's most valuable player, led the Houston attack, which was without the injured Brian Ching and the suspended Ricardo Clark.

New England, which had not allowed a goal in three previous playoff games this season, took the lead in the 20th minute when Steve Ralston crossed the ball to the forehead of Taylor Twellman. Twellman beat Houston goalie Pat Onstad low to the near post.

The goal seemed to shatter the Dynamo's stingy defense, which had allowed only 23 goals in 30 regular-season games and two in three previous playoff matches.

Houston got even in the 61st minute when De Rosario crossed a ball to Joseph Ngwenya, who whiffed on his first shot, but scrambled to the ball and tucked it behind New England goalkeeper Matt Reis.