The Province from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 16

A58C PROVINCE -Sunday, August 3, 2003 SOCCER 7 1 rfjr I ft Vl wmmrm hits nits viiiii in it 'iri EOBDUCDQ nmnnnn Aden Redekop photos The Province No. 6 Sasha Andrews celebrates her goal with Diana Artuso in the first half of Saturday night's W-League game against the Seattle Sounders at Swangard Stadium. n. Referee feel to MS 'disaster' 1 "'C Coach Dave Dew criticized the officiating after the Vancouver Whitecaps' loss Saturday night to the Seattle Sounders at Swangard Stadium. He called referee Martin Reid's night a "disaster," and was particularly incensed by a foul call in Vancouver territory in the 42nd minute that led to a free kick for Melissa Bennett.

There didn't seem to be an obvious infraction, but it ended up key, as Bennett's shot was headed home by Tina Frimpong to knot the score at 1-1. "That changed the course of the entire game and no one knows what the foul was," said Dew. "They were throwing Vancouver star Kara Lang around, beating her up, mugging her, taking her wallet every time she had the ball and there's nothing called. And then there's that in the 42nd minute and there's a foul? "1 thought the level of refer-eeing was despicable and if we keep raising the standard of play, by bringing in better players, then those guys up there who allocate referees have got to folr low suit and also raise the level." but Seattle went up the next go-through, as 'keeper Meghan Miller hardly had to move to stop Brittany Timko's chance, while Rodrick beat McLeod low to the right. Miller than dived to the right to turn away Lang's chance, and Haley Van Blommestein all but wrapped things up by beating McLeod to the left.

When Sandi Potis drilled a shot into Miller's midsection in the middle of the net it was already academic. "Anytime you go to penalty kicks you may as well just toss a coin," said Whitecaps captain Andrea Neil, a midfielder. "We didn't click together as hoped. We had a good spirited week going in, but we fell short on the day Vancouver opened the scoring in the ninth minute, as defender Sasha Andrews converted off a cramble following a corner. Seattle got it back in the 42nd minute, when forward Tina Frim-pong headed home a free kick, and less than a minute later Frimpong beat three Whitecap defenders down the middle and blasted a shot by McLeod low to the short side.

VANCOUVER 2 SEAnLE 2 (SEATTLE WINS 3-1 IN PENALTY SHOOTOUT) Stories by Steve Ewen Sports Reporter Dick McCormick played possum perfectly. The Seattle Sounders coach talked up earlier this week that his team had no chance against the Vancouver Whitecaps in the W-League Western Conference final. Sure enough, Saturday night the Sounders put together an inspired effort against an often listless Whitecap team, and ended up pulling out a 3-1 victory in penalty kicks before a crowd of 4,089 at Swangard Stadium. The teams had been knotted at 2-2 through regulation and two 15-minute overtime periods. Seattle now advances to next weekend's W-League final four in Virginia Beach, Va.

They should be forewarned that McCormick might try to play his schtick once again. "It's a mindset," said McCormick. "It's much easier to prepare an underdog, compared to a favourite. "It was: somewhat games pan- ship, but some not. It took a lot for us to win.

This is still a very, very good team. "We had gotten stronger through the year. We're a different team than they've seen. We didn't want to say that we were going to win. It was a very even game, a very exciting game for the fan." Part of what made it so interesting was the fact that Vancouver (10-1-1 in regular season) didn't play very well.

They never seemed to get in sync, as more than a few long balls ended up no were in the vicinity of a Whitecap player. They outshot Seattle 22-14, but too many of those shots were from well out, with no traffic in front. Seattle (8-3-1) was unlucky not to have ended proceedings in regulation, as midfielder Rachel Rodrick blasted a shot off the crossbar in second half injury time. They also had the best opportunity of the overtime, with forward Brenda Mueller's shot eluding goalkeeper Erin McLeod, only to be swept off the line by defender Kara Lang. That led to the kicks.

The first shooters from both teams scored, Jj it, Seattle Sounders goalie (right) Meghan Miller celebrates with her teammate Dana Kimble. Vancouver equalized in the 65th minute, on a nifty spin-and-shoot by Neil. The other goal scorers in the penalty kicks were Ros Hicks of Vancouver and Wynne Mcintosh of Seattle. sewenpng.canwest.com.