Emblematic of their season, the Dynamo got off to a rugged start in the finale Sunday night before giving their fans plenty of opportunities to dance. A sellout crowd — mostly dressed in orange — showed up at Robertson Stadium eager to celebrate.

Yet for 26 minutes, the Dynamo's play was lacking against an outmanned Los Angeles Galaxy. Then Adam Moffat uncorked a rocket from 48 yards in the 27th minute to open the scoring, awaken the crowd and set the tone for a 3-1 victory that sealed second place in the MLS Eastern Conference.

The Dynamo will play a home-and-away conference semifinal series against the Philadelphia Union. That series, which will be won by the team that scores the most goals over the two matches, begins at 3 p.m. Sunday at Philadelphia's PPL Park. The return leg is set for 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3 at Robertson Stadium.

The atmosphere picked up in the 48th minute Sunday when Bobby Boswell gave the Dynamo a 2-0 lead. Robertson Stadium rocked in the 78th minute after Carlo Costly headed in the third goal, took off his jersey and danced with his teammates at the northeast corner of the stadium.

If any game mirrored the Dynamo's 2011 season, it was the finale, especially considering Moffat got the team started. The club had been foundering until he was acquired from Portland on July 21, falling to a season-low two games under .500 on July 23, when he debuted off the bench.

Beneficial trade

In the deal for Moffat, the Dynamo also acquired the allocation money they used to sign Costly and Brazilian starter Luiz Camargo. After Moffat entered the starting lineup, the Dynamo went 7-2-4 to move from fifth to second place in the East.

Moffat made an impact again Sunday with a Goal of the Week-type strike.

"What a goal," Brad Davis said. "That first goal was huge for us. We have that confidence that when we step on the field, we don't care who we're playing. We have to go out and depend on ourselves and do the little things that make us a good team, and we've done that of late."

Assured the best record in MLS, the Galaxy played without David Beckham, Landon Donovan, Omar Gonzalez, Todd Dunivant, Josh Saunders and Mike Magee. The Dynamo admitted they didn't face the Galaxy's best squad, and they hardly cared.

Davis' highs

"As (coach) Dom (Kinnear) said, 'If someone would've walked up to you in the parking lot and said you're going to win 3-1, you would've taken it,' " Davis said after finishing the season with a career-high and league-leading 16 assists.

Needing a victory to avoid the wild-card round, the Dynamo had no trouble before 30,018, the sixth-largest crowd to watch a soccer match at Robertson Stadium.

"I think this team's ready for the playoffs," Kinnear said. "I think we've been ready for a while. I think if you look at the last six games of the season, we're unbeaten, with quite a few wins under our belt in some pressure situations."

jesus.ortiz@chron.com

twitter.com/Ortiz Kicks

