Though they would have loved Major League Soccer schedule makers to break up the six-game road trip that will finally end June 7th at Real Salt Lake, coach Curt Onalfo and the Kansas City Wizards don't want to make excuses.

Three loses in the last four games isn't where Onalfo hoped the squad would be after starting the season 3-1-1.

After beating the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park April 20th to start their travels with a bang, the Wizards quickly found that playing away from the friendly confines of Community America Ballpark for the better part of two months left little room for defensive breakdowns and offensive ineptitude.

But Onalfo is no Chicken Little, and the sky certainly isn't falling. The Wizards are far from panicking despite capturing a disappointing four points from a possible 15 since hitting the road in late April. 

"We are going through a little bit of adversity," Onalfo told American Soccer Daily. "When you go through adversity you find yourself. Our guys don't make excuses, don't point the finger. We find solutions."

Fortunately, Onalfo should be familiar with bringing his team back from a prolonged slide. After all, Kansas City went through two six-game stretches last season where it collected four points or less. In five games in August, the Wizards were 1-4-0 and outscored 10-4.

The team barely recovered in time to make the playoffs, and Conrad told ASD that hitting a speed bump now rather than later could help the young team gel before the stretch run. 

"Usually, we hit this stretch in August, but now we are hitting it now," said Conrad. "I think that's not necessarily a bad thing. We know what we have to do. We just have to tinker a little bit and I think once we get everything into place, it should be smooth sailing."

Make no mistake; the Wizards have put things together for short stretches. Goalkeeper Kevin Hartman leads MLS is consecutive shutout minutes.

On the flip side, Onalfo's men lead MLS is consecutive minutes without scoring. Inconsistency not incompetence torpedoed first-half leads against the Los Angeles Galaxy and New York Red Bulls.

For Hartman, it's all about keeping things in perspective. In spite of their struggles, history suggests the Wizards are far from down and out. Consider 2004, when Kansas City began the season with an identical 11 points from nine games, and went on to finish on top of the Western Conference, play in MLS Cup and win the US Open Cup.

"I don't think anyone is happy with where we are, but at the same time, I think you kind of put things in perspective," Hartman told ASD.

"Three weeks ago, we were talking about how Houston didn't even have a point and now they are right back in the mix. I don't necessarily feel like we've put ourselves out by any means."