COMMERCE CITY, Colo. -- Herculez Gomez scored in the 71st minute to lift the Colorado Rapids to a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night.

Gomez, acquired from Los Angeles in December along with defender Ugo Ihemelu in the trade for goalie Joe Cannon, had several scoring chances before breaking through with the game-winner. Gomez took a cross from midfielder Terry Cooke just inside the 18-yard-line on the right side and headed the ball past Cannon.

"I was getting text messages all week. Phone calls. This is a game I really wanted to win," Gomez said. "Everyone knows I grew up a fan of L.A., but I think (getting traded) was the best thing that could have happened to me."

Gomez also drew a red card ejection on Kyle Martino in the 25th minute.

Things went from bad to worse for Los Angeles (1-3-2) after Martino's ejection, as Colorado (4-2-3) dominated the first-half possession even before Gomez and Martino were tangled up around midfield.

The referee whistled the play dead and signaled a foul on Martino, who rolled on top of Gomez and appeared to attack him while still on the ground. Both squads quickly came to their teammates' aid, and, when order was restored, Martino was sent off and Gomez only picked up a yellow card.

"It's an unfortunate call," Cannon said. "It kind of takes our tactics in the game out the window."

Los Angeles' best scoring chance came in the 82nd minute when Nate Jaqua shot at Rapids goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul who got just enough of the ball to whisk it to the left of the net.

"It was a reaction save," Coundoul said. "They realized they were losing. They started getting desperate."

The game drew a record crowd of 18,458 at Dick's Sporting Goods Stadium.