Heat Tied in Second Overtime : Soccer: San Francisco uses smaller field to its advantage in APSL championship game.

The Los Angeles Heat, which struggled on narrow field all year, couldn’t get its offense untracked Wednesday night in tiny Spartan Stadium and went into a second overtime tied, 1-1, with the San Francicso Bay Blackhawks in the American Professional Soccer League West championship game.

At the end of the first 15-minute overtime period, the Heat seemed to be regrouping and was attacking the San Francisco goal more as it did at the start the game. However, most of the attacks were coming from the middle of the field and proved ineffective.

Los Angeles, which held a one-game lead in the home-and-home series, came from behind in the second half of regulation play to send the game into two 15-minute overtime periods, a standard used internationally to decide championship contests. If there is no score in the extra periods, the first game would come down to penalty kicks. A San Francisco victory would force another 30-minute mini-game to decide the league champion. The mini-game would also be decided by penalty kicks if it ended in a tie.

The winner advances to Boston for the APSL’s national championship game Sept. 22. The opponent will be the Maryland Bays, champions of the APSL East.

On Saturday at Veterans Satdium in Long Beach, a field that offered more than 70 yards of width and large areas behind the touch lines, the Heat dominated San Francisco, 2-0.

That wasn’t the case Wednesday night.

Although Los Angeles came out firing, getting off three shots in the first 2 1/2 minutes, it was the Blackhawks who controlled most of the regulation game. Spartan Stadium is only 65 yards wide, and that seemed to affect the Heat, which played much of its game down the middle of the field.

The Blackhawks got an unassisted goal from National Team member Eric Wynalda in the 37th minute, a rifle shot from the left side of the 18-yard mark. The hard shot sailed past Heat goalie Mike Littman and pounded into the back of the net, bringing the crowd of 3,800 to its feet. It was the first playoff goal for Wynalda and only his third of the year in 10 games.

Although Los Angeles outshot San Francisco in the first half, 7-4, it seemed to be in a malaise after Wynalda’s shot.

But the Heat even when forward Waldir Guerra, who earlier reinjured his right ankle, tapped a loose ball off a corner kick past San Francisco goalkeeper Mark Dougherty.

It was a physical game. In the first half there were numerous shoving matches.

Nathan Sacks of the Heat got a yellow card for a hard tackle from behind only eight minutes into the game. Five yellow cards were issued in regulation and 26 fouls were called.