By Ridge Mahoney, Senior Editor

Overtime goals decided two very different semifinals; the Fire duly put away a New England team full of determination but short on sharpness, and the cardiac Quakes rallied twice before stunning Kansas City with another strike in sudden-death.

BEST GOAL: No contest. San Jose's Landon Donovan played a one-two with Ronnie Ekelund, immaculately trapped his return pass while gliding between two defenders into the penalty area, then drilled his shot past Tony Meola 27 minutes into overtime for a 3-2 Quakes' victory.

Donovan: ''It's instinct. It's almost like your mind knows what's going to happen and your body just does it. You get that close and you're letting everybody down who's worked so hard if you don't finish it.''

BEST ASSISTS: Ian Russell set up Brian Mullan for the Quakes' second equalizer by squaring up Carey Talley on the left wing and bending a right-footed cross around him into the goalmouth that Mullan redirected just inside the post.

Russell started a lot of games for the Quakes the past two seasons on the right side of midfield, but lost his spot when a trade brought Mullan, who had played forward for the Galaxy, to San Jose.

Quakes coach Frank Yallop: ''They're the ones that get it done, not me. I just put them in positions where I think they can be successful.''

Ekelund's neat through ball to Donovan found its way through several defenders and was hit with just the right weight.

Donovan: ''Ronnie's a great passer and he sees the field a lot, so it's worthwhile to make the effort.''

BEST SAVES: Revs keeper Adin Brown and his teammates frantically held off the Fire until Chris Armas scored in the 101st minute.

Brown tipped over a long blast from Orlando Perez and Jay Heaps and Marshall Leonard cleared balls off the line from Jim Curtin and Damani Ralph, respectively.

Revs coach Steve Nicol: ''Defensively, this is as good as we've played all season. The back five were huge but everyone chipped in defensively.''

SUPER SUBS: Justin Mapp came on for Chicago in the 81st minute and set up the goal by dribbling past Marshall into the right side of the box and crossing a ball Ralph directed toward the net.

Fire coach Dave Sarachan: ''When players do that, they make me look good. We knew that Justin could make something happen, he's a special player.''

Russell replaced Lagos midway through the second half for another tactical switch that paid off for Yallop, who had Russell at the scorers' table to replace Lagos when he scored the first goal. In the spectacular 5-2 win over the Galaxy last week, substitutes Chris Roner and Rodrigo Faria both scored goals.

Yallop: ''It was a great team performance again. Whoever comes on, it doesn't really matter.''

STRANGERS IN THE BOX? Armas got into the penalty area to put away a scuffed shot from Ralph, but it wasn't his first foray up front during the game.

The goal was Armas' fourth shot of the game as he and his teammates outshot the Revs, 20-7. He has four goals in postseason play, including one for the Galaxy in the 1996 MLS Cup they lost to D.C. United, 3-2, in overtime.

Armas: ''I'm glad I could give the team a goal tonight. I was just waiting for a rebound, waiting for something and I just redirected it in front of the goal.''

San Jose defender Troy Dayak set up San Jose's first goal by playing a one-two with Donovan and then crossing the ball for Manny Lagos to tap in.

Dayak also headed wide with a diving header in the first half and tumbled to the ground — allegedly because of a Nick Garcia necktie tackle — going for another scoring chance.

Dayak: ''This is the playoffs, man. We all have to do everything we can and if that means I have to get into the box that's what I do.''

His biggest playoff point came in the 2001 semifinal vanquishing of Miami. With the series tied, San Jose went to Miami for Game 3 and won it on Dayak's overtime header.

Semifinal Summaries

Nov. 14 in Chicago
Chicago 1 New England 0 (OT).
Goal: Armas (Ralph, Mapp) 101.
Chicago — Thornton, Whitfield, Bocanegra, Curtin, Perez, Williams (Mapp, 81), Armas, Marsch, Beasley, Ralph, Razov.
New England — Brown, Heaps, Llamosa, Pierce, Leonard, Ralston, Cancela, Joseph, Kamler (Moore, 89), Noonan, Fabbro.
Yellow Cards: Chicago — Beasley 65; New England — Llamosa 37, Heaps 54, Ralston 87, Moore 95.
Referee: Terry Vaughn.
Att.: 14,610.

Nov. 15 in San Jose
San Jose 3 Kansas City 2 (OT).
Goals: Lagos (Dayak, Donovan) 61, Mullan (Russell) 83, Donovan (Ekelund) 117; Simutenkov (Klein) 57, Klein (Preki) 72.
San Jose — Onstad, Waibel (De Rosario, 81), Dayak, Robinson, Agoos, Mullan, Mulrooney, Ekelund, Lagos (Russell, 68), Walker (Faria, 77), Donovan.
Kansas City — Meola, Conrad, Gutierrez, Garcia, Talley, Klein, Preki, Zavagnin, Armstrong (Quill, 66), Harris (Arnaud, 90), Simutenkov (Wolff, 71). Yellow Cards: San Jose — Dayak 73, Faria 112; Kansas City — Zavagnin 100.
Referee: Kevin Stott.