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 Thursday, August 30, 2001 14:40 EST

Vanney's late penalty pulls L.A. even

PASADENA, Calif. -- Josh Wolff gave the Los Angeles Galaxy a late wake-up call Wednesday night.

The Chicago Fire forward scored with 15 minutes to play, and the Galaxy responded 13 minutes later, salvaging a 1-1 overtime tie in a Major League Soccer match before an announced crowd of 10,271 at the Rose Bowl.

"We didn't wake up until they scored," said Los Angeles defender Greg Vanney, whose penalty kick tied the score. "Once they scored it seemed like, 'Wow. It's an emergency here. Let's get after the ball, let's win it, let's try to get after them."

Referee Kevin Terry awarded the Galaxy (7-3-7) the penalty kick after Jesse Marsch pushed Mauricio Cienfuegos to the ground in the penalty area when he was seeking to control Luis Hernandez's pass.

Fire goalkeeper Zach Thornton dove to the right on the penalty kick, but Vanney put the shot inside the right post for his fourth goal of the season, all on penalty kicks.

"Cienfuegos is clever and I think he fooled the referee," Chicago coach Bob Bradley said.

Wolff put the Fire (9-7-2) ahead in the 75th minute, taking Diego Gutierrez's pass and shooting just inside the left post for his fifth goal. Former Galaxy forward Ante Razov was also credited with an assist.

Chris Armas nearly put Chicago ahead 2-0 in the 83rd minute, but Los Angeles forward Cobi Jones was standing on the goal line next to the left post and cleared away Armas' shot from outside the penalty area.

Wolff had the best scoring opportunity of overtime, capping a counterattack in the 94th minute with a shot from just inside the penalty area, which Los Angeles goalkeeper Kevin Hartman dove to the ground to stop.

Chicago led 16-10 in shots and 7-6 in shots on goal before Thornton and Hartman each made five saves.

In the first half, the Fire took eight shots to the Galaxy's four, with both teams putting two shots on goal.

Rookie midfielder Peter Vagenas took three of Los Angeles' four shots. Thornton caught his header in the 11th minute. Vagenas' shot from outside the penalty area in the 15th minute went wide left. He hit the side of the net off Vanney's corner kick in the 38th minute.

Razov took four first-half shots, with two deflected and Hartman making a save on his 32nd-minute shot. Hartman also made a save on Wolff's header off Peter Nowak's free kick in the 16th-minute.

The tie continued the Galaxy's slump since the league began to force it to divest players May 13 so high-scoring Mexican forward Luis Hernandez could be added to its roster. Los Angeles is 2-3-4 after opening the season 5-0-3. Hernandez has yet to score in six MLS matches and one in the U.S. Open Cup.



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