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Galaxy take lead L.A. up 4-1 in points against Chicago after 1-0 OT win
Updated: Sunday October 14, 2001 4:20 PM
FULLERTON, Calif. (AP) -- Peter Vagenas scored in overtime to lead the Los Angeles Galaxy a 1-0 victory against the Chicago Fire in the second game of the MLS semifinal series Saturday night. With the win, the Galaxy assumed a 4-1 lead in points heading into the final game of the three-game series Wednesday night in Chicago. A victory is worth three points and if neither team has five points after three games, a sudden-death overtime is played. Vagenas' goal was set up when Luis Hernandez stole David Vaudreuil's clearing pass. Fire goalkeeper Zach Thornton stopped a shot by Hernandez from 8 yards, Hernandez got the rebound and passed across the penalty area to Vagenas, who scored from 4 yards with a shot just inside the right post in the 94th minute.
"We needed this victory, it's was a huge game," said Vagenas. "All it took was one brilliant move by one player when it's so late in the game, and fortunately Luis [Hernandez] was on our team and he created that for us." Chicago midfielder Peter Nowak strained his right hamstring and left at halftime. "I think we played very well," said Fire Head Coach Bob Bradey. "We have to be ready for Wednesday. It seems like we have not gotten any breaks so far and it seems as though we have to make our own breaks. Peter's injury looks serious and we'll have to see about his status for Wednesday." Fire defender Evan Whitfield missed the game while serving a one-game suspension for a red-card he received in Wednesday's game. The match was played at Titan Stadium in Fullerton because of a conflict at the Rose Bowl. "The crowd was great. One of the things we talked about before the game was we said let's feed off the energy of the crowd. Let's get our energy from them and let's give our energy to them," Galaxy Head Coach Sigi Schmid said of the sold-out stadium. "I thought we did a good job of playing with a lot of energy to keep the crowd into it and certainly the crowd, the intimacy of the atmosphere was tremendous. "I think this was just an example of what games are going to be like once we have our own field, our own stadium." The Galaxy is scheduled to begin construction of their own stadium in Carson this fall. SummaryScoring: LA --Vagenas (Hernandez) 94 CHICAGO FIRE--Zach Thornton, C.J. Brown, Carlos Bocanegra, Diego Gutierrez,
David Vaudreuil, Chris Armas, Jesse Marsch, Peter Nowak (Jamar Beasley 46),
DaMarcus Beasley, Dema Kovalenko, Eric Wynalda (Hristo Stoitchkov 71)
LOS ANGELES GALAXY--Kevin Hartman, Danny Califf, Greg Vanney, Paul Caligiuri,
Adam Frye (Ezra Hendrickson 80), Simon Elliott, Mauricio Cienfuegos, Peter
Vagenas, Sasha Victorine (Brian Ching 91), Cobi Jones, Brian Mullan (Luis
Hernandez 62)
Referee: Alex Prus; Assistant Referees: Jorge Reyes, Tom Bobadilla
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