Flash wins, advances to conference finals

SPECIAL TO THE UNION-TRIBUNE

September 22, 1998

Flash 4

Storm 3 (SO)

NEW ORLEANS -- The top-seeded Flash advanced to the A-League's Western Conference finals by defeating the seventh-seeded New Orleans Storm 4-3 in a shootout last night before 1,104 at Zephyr Field.

San Diego will play the Minnesota Thunder in the best-of-three conference finals starting Saturday in Minnesota. Game 2 is Sept. 30 in San Diego and Game 3, if necessary, would be Oct. 4 in San Diego.

After New Orleans scored in the final seconds of regulation to force overtime, the Flash won the shootout 3-2. Noah Gins scored the game-winner in the sixth round.

San Diego scored the only goal of the first half, in the seventh minute, when Jerome Watson headed a free kick past goalkeeper Tom Dutra.

New Orleans tied it in the 46th minute on a goal by Gabriel Gentle.

Seven minutes later, the Flash's Mauricio Alegre scored an unassisted goal to break the tie. New Orleans again answered, Chris Veselka scoring on a header in the 63rd minute.

With the Storm down two players because of red cards, Carlos Farias scored in the 75th minute to give the Flash a 3-2 lead. But Veselka's second goal of the game, with 15 seconds left in regulation, forced overtime.