New England, Colorado advance in MLS playoffs

FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts (AP) _ Taylor Twellman scored on New England's fourth shootout attempt after Matt Reis stopped Chicago's fourth try, sending the Revolution to the MLS Eastern Conference

Sunday, October 29th 2006, 9:47 am

By: News On 6

FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts (AP) _ Taylor Twellman scored on New England's fourth shootout attempt after Matt Reis stopped Chicago's fourth try, sending the Revolution to the MLS Eastern Conference Championship with a 4-2 shootout victory over the Fire on Saturday night.

New England outscored Chicago 2-1 in the second match of the total-goal series and the teams then battled through a scoreless 30-minute overtime.

In the shootout, Twellman scored on New England's fourth attempt after Chicago's Ivan Guerrero had his shot stopped by New England goalie Reis on the Fire's fourth penalty shot. New England had converted its first three shootout attempts.

New England will meet the winner of the D.C United-New York Red Bulls Eastern Conference semifinal Sunday.

Rapids 5, FC Dallas 4

At Frisco, Texas, Colorado goalie Joe Cannon stopped Dario Sala's shot in the sixth round of penalty kicks and Pablo Mastroeni scored on the Rapids' final kick and Colorado won on penalty kicks to advance to the Western Conference Championship game.

The Rapids' Clint Mathis forced penalty kicks in the 114th minute when he scored from 25 yards to put Colorado up 3-2 and tie the series at 4 for aggregate goals. Dallas won the first leg of the series 2-1 on Oct. 21 in Denver.

The Rapids forced overtime after Nicolas Hernandez scored in the 57th and 83rd minutes for a 2-1 Colorado lead. Clarence Goodson's header in the 92nd minute gave FC Dallas a one-goal advantage in overtime before Mathis's goal necessitated the shootout.

It is the second straight season that the Rapids (12-13-8) have eliminated FC Dallas (16-13-4) in Frisco on penalty kicks in the postseason.

Colorado meets the winner of Sunday's Houston Dynamo-Chivas USA semifinal.