The Wizards went through their exit physicals on Wednesday, still believing they should be preparing for another postseason soccer game, not the offseason.</p><p>A bitter 2-0 loss to Columbus in the MLS Eastern Conference semifinals last Saturday night ended the Wizards&#8217; season, and as they packed up their gear, the players reflected on their rally to qualify for the playoffs and regretted a missed opportunity to advance to the finals.</p><p>&#8220;When (other) people are still playing, you&#8217;re always envious of them,&#8221; said goalkeeper Kevin Hartman. &#8220;I thought we were playing our best soccer at the most important time of the season.</p><p>&#8220;Unfortunately, we played a very difficult team in Columbus, and they had a few plays that were the difference in the game. &#8230; I think in the back of everyone&#8217;s mind, you want to be a champion, so coming up short is always a disappointment.&#8221;</p><p>At one point this season, the Wizards stood at 6-9-8 and in sixth place in the Eastern Conference. But with some tweaks in the lineup, acquisitions of some new players and maturation of young players, they went 5-1-1 in their last seven games for an 11-10-9 regular-season record.</p><p>Kansas City then led Columbus 1-0 in the second half of game one of the two-game series based on aggregate goals, when midfielder Herculez Gomez was issued a red card for a dangerous tackle. The Crew, which had the best record in MLS, capitalized on the man-advantage by tying the game 1-1 in stoppage time, and the Wizards were without Gomez for game two at Columbus.</p><p>&#8220;If we have him in Columbus, that definitely helps us because he&#8217;s been big for us down the stretch,&#8221; said defender Michael Harrington. &#8220;I liked the team we put on the field, and I think that team could have won a championship if we had some different breaks here and there.&#8221;</p><p>Harrington, a second-year player, was one of several youngsters who contributed to the Wizards&#8217; season, including rookie defender Jonathan Leathers; third-year defender Tyson Wahl; rookie midfielder Kevin Souter; and second-year midfielder Roger Espinoza.</p><p>The late-season acquisitions of Gomez and forward Abe Thompson, coupled with the signing of Argentine forward Claudio Lopez, return of forward Josh Wolff and move to midfield by Jack Jewsbury and Davy Arnaud made the Wizards a formidable side.</p><p>&#8220;Abe Thompson did a great job up top, helping us hold the ball and have a physical presence,&#8221; said Wizards coach Curt Onalfo. &#8220;Herculez Gomez was relentless on the right side of the field, not to mention Souter and what he added to our team.</p><p>&#8220;You add Jimmy Conrad, who was the best defender in MLS and Kevin Hartman had a solid season &#8230; we have extremely fast players in Leathers and Harrington in the back, and Wahl played well down the stretch. I&#8217;m really encouraged and proud of the guys and how they responded during crunch time.&#8221;</p><p>The Wizards found themselves having to win games in the final month of the season because a stretch of eight road matches in 10 games put them in a hole.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve been on an emotional roller-coaster for the last 10 weeks,&#8221; said Conrad, the Wizards&#8217; captain, &#8220;and we knew five of our last seven were at home, and we had to take a majority of those points.</p><p>&#8220;I think that took a lot out of us. It took a lot of emotion and energy to get to that point. We got there, we thought we could do the job, and the whole series came down to two plays in each (playoff) game.&#8221;</p><p>A year ago, the Wizards reached the second round of the playoffs in Onalfo&#8217;s first season in Kansas City, but Conrad called 2008 more successful because the team&#8217;s direction is more defined.</p><p>&#8220;After year one of Curt Onalfo, we still had a lot more question marks &#8230; we still needed to make more changes, and there still needed to be more of an identity to the team,&#8221; Conrad said. &#8220;This year heading into the offseason, we have maybe one or two question marks, but our identity is a hard-working team that is hard to play against.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re going to be the same team next year, but who are we going to add to make it that much better?&#8221;