The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 131

SUNDAY AUfllTST 30 1998 11H playoff run ends in OT You Can Trust Your Transmission Physician! FREE TOWING wInternal Repairs Up to 15 Mi FREE TransCheck 21 Service Nationwide Warranty (bottman Nighthawks rally twice before advancing to semis By KEITH CANNON Special Correspondent The Charlotte season ended Saturday in a 3-2 loss to the Orlando Nighthawks in the United Systems of Independent Soccer Leagues Division III quarterfinals at Davidson College Matthew Froehle scored on a header 1 minute 47 seconds into sudden-death overtime to stop the Eagles (17-8) short of making their third straight trip to the Division III Final Four The Nighthawks (13-6) continue their run through the playoffs in Payne said thought we outplayed them for much of the game but they got the Wellington scored first goal in the 13th minute taking a pass from Payne and driving it past Orlando goaltender Quinn from 22 yards away But the Nighthawks evened the score 1-1 five minutes later when Rod Levy buried an 1 1-yard header off Steve comer kick Charlotte regained the lead 12 minutes into the second half Wellington took a pass from Dustin Swinehart found the angle and fought off a defender to blast an eight-yard shot past But Orlando answered quickly again with an unassisted goal by Jose DeOlivera who beat Eagles goaltender Neal Andrews to the near post when defender Randy Mobley fell down times we scored if we could have followed up with another goal that been the Charlotte coach Mark Steffens said we aggressive in the box and very good with the ball in the The Nighthawks scored on their only shot of the overtime period Steve comer kick set up winning shot for Orlando which dropped from A-League in 1997 to Division III this year due to the financial problems The Eagles ended a strong playoff run made some changes and got a couple of big wins when we had Steffens said SOCCER TRANSMISSION taMBBB smcc 1962 Independently Owned Operated the semifinals on Sept 10 or 11 The location and opponent will be announced by the USISL on Monday Forward Jamie Wellington scored both of goals to finish with seven in the three playoff games But he said that he and his teammates could have done more to get in position to win had a lot of Wellington said had a wide open shot and almost put it in the building (the Davidson athletic field house located behind the end zone in the Forward Jon Payne felt the Eagles were the better team just the way it bounces ir II II II II i Inc Fluid (Filter Extra) OFF Any Automatic Internal Transmission i Repair 1 1 WITH THIS COUPON Exp 9-21-98 I II Not Good wany other otters I Limit one coupon per customer I Must be presented when car is dropped offJ oo Prevent Transmission Trouble TransCheck 21 PLUS' Service Remove Pan "Adjust Linkage Replace Pan Gasket Fluid WITH THIS COUPON Exp 9-21-98 Most domestic foreign cars Limit one coupon per customer Must be presented (when car is dropped off We Service Most-Imports Domestics Automatics Clutches 4x4's Front Wheel Drives CHARLOTTE MartffCad 501 Sugar Creek At Tryon Mall i Shopping Center 5 596-8830 APPOINTMENTS RECOMMENDED Mon-Fri Sat 8-12 5514 South Blvd Across from Tyvola Mall 525-8360 THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER mtmt CONFERENCE CALLING Sproule wins 3rd straight Lake Norman triathlon A Local Phone Company That Works Like You Da DAVID PHILLIPAssociated Press Cynthia Cooper (right) is fouled by Michelle Timms during overtime Saturday in Game 2 of the WNBA Finals Houston won 74-69 to even the best-of-3 series at 1-1 Cooper rallies Comets in OT MVP shakes off a poor start to even series 1-1 WNBA FINALS By BRETT HONEYCUTT Staff Writer Cornelius Tracy Sproule wait to cross the finish line and Karl Debate wait to see who crossed the finish line at the fourth annual Lake Norman YMCA triathlon Sproule rolled out of bed Saturday morning thinking I have to do is get through one last race and But for the 27-year-old Charlot-tean who won the division for the third straight time it was just an end to her season not her career get to do some rock climbing hiking camping stuff you really do if seriously training because you need those weekends to get your workout Sproule said Sproule finished the half-mile swim 20 seconds behind Petra Benn but came out of the 15V4-mile bike almost five minutes ahead of eventual second-place finisher Arlene Walker Sproule completed the 31 mile run to finish the race in 1 hour 18 minutes and two seconds Walker (1:24:17) Diane Seago-Laczko (1:24:47) Pam Young (1:25:24) and Benn (1:27:21) rounded out the top five win was evident because the women began at the same time But for Debate a 31-year-old UNC Charlotte lecturer in the health promotions and kinesiology department the anticipation was nerve-racking because the men began according to age group Debate crossed the finish line first 22 seconds ahead of Todd Cawley but Charleston Steve Caskie won the race for the second time in three years Caskie a three-time World Championship triathlon age-group qualifier started with the 40-44 group nine minutes behind Debate He won by seven seconds Both were unsure who won until the results were posted about 30 minutes after the finish Caskie said of going off at different times would have been a different race if been in the same NOTES: The event drew a record 300 entrants three of which were over 70 Herb Keller of Lenoir the oldest at 79 finished in 2:34: 15 and Ed McCarthy 73 completed the course in 2:19:09 Miriam Tuovila 73 of Yorktown Va finished in 2:11:30 COMPLETE RESULTS See Update Page 4D And by bundling these services together BTI not only makes your life easier but saves you money at the same time For the past 1 5 years thousands of North Carolina businesses have called on BTI for high quality lower cost telecommunications services We've built our reputation as an entrepreneurial customer focused company providing reliable technologically advanced services with a world class customer care center operating 24 hours a day seven days a week Finally You have a choice in local phone service Isn't it time to connect with a local phone 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Call BTI today Join the thousands of satisfied business customers who have already taken advantage of selecting BTI as their local telephone service provider BTI understands the needs of your business environment We know you work at a faster pace than others The last place you care to be is on terminal hold waiting to speak to the next available representative In your business decisions get made and real work gets done! Now there's BTI A new breed of telecommunications company Helping you work more efficiently with a full array of services Local Long Distance Data Internet Paging And much more with eight points think what we started to do was try to protect the lead instead of play Timms said Minnesota gets franchise Deposits for the required 5000 season tickets secured a WNBA expansion team for Minnesota next season expansion team will be a member of the Western Conference which includes Houston Los Angeles Phoenix Sacramento Calif and Utah PHOENIX (69) Webb 2-5 2-2 7 Griffiths 1-4 4-6 7 Gillom 3-15 2-4 8 Timms 7-18 5-5 21 Pettis 26 1-2 5 Harrower 56 0-0 12 Foster 1-2 0-0 2 Reed 01 0-0 0 Askamp 0-1 0-0 0 Kuklova 3-4 0-0 7 Stepanova 0-1 0-0 0 Totals 24-63 14-19 69 HOUSTON (74) Thompson 4-11 4-4 12 Swoopes 7-16 0-0 14 Lamb 6-10 0-0 12 Perrot 1-4 0-2 3 Cooper 7-18 11-14 27 Moore 1-1 0-1 2 Arcam 2-5 0-0 4 Jackson 0-0 00 0 Totals 28-65 15-21 74 Phoenix 37 29 Houston 32 34 8 74 3-Potnt Phoenix 7-15 (Harrower 2-2 Timms 2-8 Webb 1-1 Gnffiths 1-3 Kuklova 1-1) Houston 3-12 (Cooper 2-4 Perrot 1-2 Thompson 0-2 Swoopes 0-4) Fouled Timms Phoenix 41 (Gillom 9) Houston 46 (Swoopes 13) Phoenix 11 (Gnffiths 3) Houston 16 (Cooper 6) Total Phoenix 24 Houston 17 Webb Phoenix coach Miller 16285 BTI fetecommucatJOServtee Local Long Distance Internet 1-800-411-4729 Local Service is currently not available for residential customers wwwBTItelecom Email: bti-infobtitelecomnet INTERNATIONAL VOICEMAIL DATA TRANSMISSION LOCAL LONG DISTANCE PAGING ATI By MICHAEL GRACZYK Associated Press Houston The Houston Comets were down 12 points late in the game and saw their hopes of repeating as WNBA champions fading They refused to fold just said that fnmetc 71 theY Just had Siven bomeis it their best shot Mercury 69 Cynthia Cooper said after she led the Comets from the double-digit deficit to a 74-69 overtime victory over the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday to even the best-of-3 WNBA Finals Cooper the MVP in both its seasons had 27 points six assists and three steals Her four points in overtime accounted for half of the total showed what we were made Cooper said showed we wanted it more than think the only people who believed we would pull this out was ourselves and the added Sheryl Swoopes who finished with 14 points including the other four in overtime and 13 rebounds The victory set up a final game Tuesday night in Houston both of us are under Cooper said see how they Cooper who struggled most of the game had 10 points in the late rally including a three-pointer with 1:25 to go in regulation that gave the Comets a 66-64 lead Kristi Harrower who finished with 12 points for the Mercury hit a 7-foot jumper with a minute to go to tie it 66-66 and both teams then missed chances to win in regulation did a very good job on getting back into the Mercury coach Cheryl Miller said we play well down the stretch plain and simple handle the Michelle Timms led the Mercury with 21 points but was held scoreless in the overtime you saw tonight is why Cynthia Cooper is Timms said like a panther that studies her prey and then she just pounces on you She waited until her team needed her" In the overtime Cooper charged down the court after a turnover by Jennifer Gillom and her layup with 3: 19 left in overtime gave the Comets a 68-66 lead The Mercury who led most of the game scored only three points in the overtime on a free throw and 5-footer by Gillom who finished FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY RADIO SPONSOR SEPTEMBER 11-13 LIBERTY HALL CHARLOTTE MERCHANDISE MART INDEPENDENCE BOULEVARD THE BIGGEST BOAT INVENTORY CLEARANCE SALE EVER HELD IN THE CAROLINAS SAVE HUNDREDS EVEN THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS ON NEW CRUISERS RUNABOUTS PONTOONS DECK BOATS SKI BOATS SAILBOATS BASS SALTWATER FISHING BOATS PERSONAL WATERCRAFT SNEAK PREVIEW OF MANY OF THE NEW MODELS PRODUCED BY SOUTHEAST PRODUCTIONS 336 855-0208 FRIDAY: Noon 8 PM SATURDAY: 10 AM -8 PM SUNDAY: 10 AM 6 PM Mi.