BY SCOTT FRENCH
Senior Editor
In Folsom, Calif.

Emily Burt's goal 12 minutes into overtime sent the California Storm to its third successive Women's Premier Soccer League championship game, delivering a 2-1 victory Saturday over a Denver Diamonds squad that started the match with 10 players.

The New England Mutiny got off to a quick start in the second semifinal at Folsom High School, then held on for a 4-3 triumph over defending champion Utah Spiders, which finished their match with 10 players.

It was a wild, greatly entertaining doubleheader featuring heroics from former WUSA stars Burt, Sissi, Jenni Branam, Laura Schott, Katie Antongiovanni, Kristin Warren, Keri Sanchez, Mary-Frances Monroe, Alexa Borisjuk — and many players who have never played professionally.

Sunday's championship at Folsom provides a rematch of last year's semifinal, a 3-1 Storm triumph, and a showdown three weeks ago in Massachusetts, a 3-2 Storm victory that did not count in the standings.

That was the only loss suffered this year by the Mutiny, which officially improved to 11-0-0 with Saturday's victory over Utah and to 12-1-0 in all matches against WPSL opposition.

''I think we've definitely hit our peak at the right moment, for sure,'' said Monroe, who played with the Philadelphia Charge and Boston Breakers in the WUSA. ''I'm just so proud of everybody. We played awesome.''

A catalyst was a sensational showing Thursday in Agawam, Mass., against China's national team, in which the Mutiny were the better team — with a 3-1 lead — until Coach Austin Daniels starting pulling starters with about a half-hour to go. The Chinese, who play the U.S. national team Sunday in Hartford, Conn., pulled out a 4-3 victory.

''That helped us a lot,'' Daniels said. ''To be able to play [competitively with] a team that's fourth, fifth in the world. And they just kept it going.''

New England swarmed the Spiders at the start, jumping to a 2-0 lead by the 16th minute on goals by former University of Massachusetts standout Rachel LeDuc and University of Connecticut star Jessica Gjertsen, then extending it to 3-0 with Monroe's 30th-minute penalty kick after her former Boston Breakers teammate Erin O'Grady was brought down in the Utah box.

Former University of Utah standout Shauna Bingham converted a spot kick three minutes later to give the Spiders life, and Utah pressed most of the second half, twice pulling within a goal, on breakaway strikes by Utes star Amber Brower in the 67th and 80th minutes.

Borisjuk, who also played for Boston and Philadelphia in the WUSA, headed home the fourth goal for New England in the 75th minute.

Utah was down to 10 players when Melissa Wayman, a Utes sophomore, received her second yellow card for a foul from behind in second-half stoppage time.

The first match was as scintillating, maybe more so, with the Diamonds forced to play the first 15 minutes a player down while waiting for U.S. national-teamers Branam and Kylie Bivens to negotiate horrendous traffic from San Francisco.

University of California recruit Caroline Lea was pressed into service in the nets — she had some goalkeeper experience ''like U-11s, so long ago,'' she said — surviving four shots, making two saves, and nearly bungling a corner kick into her goal.

''It took us 3 1/2 hours to drive 70 miles,'' said Bivens, a former Atlanta Beat star who arrived on the field dragging two suitcases. ''It was insane.''

''There was quite a bit of traffic from San Francisco,'' said Branam, a San Diego Spirit rookie last year who had never played before for the Diamonds. ''We were going 15 mph or less until about 20 miles from here.''

Bivens and Branam got the call-up when Diamonds coach Scott DeDycker was unable to gather more than 10 players from his roster for the trip to the Sacramento area after his team clinched its final four berth on Thursday. One player had come down with mononucleosis, another tore her anterior cruciate ligament on Thursday, another had a parent's birthday that she could not skip, and several declined to travel while readying to report for their college seasons.

''Kristin Warren called me up and asked if I wanted to play,'' said Bivens, who played alongside Warren with the Beat last year. ''I had played with them before, three weeks ago. They needed a goalkeeper, so I called Branam.''

Both were in Southern California, and they were unable to find a flight to Sacramento. They left home at 9:15 a.m. for John Wayne Airport in Orange County, arriving in San Francisco around noon. They got to Folsom a little after 5:30 p.m.

Branam was the key player for Denver, making a good half-dozen diving stops to keep the Storm from pulling away. The best was a sprawling stop at the near post from a sizzling Sissi shot that nutmegged a defender.

Lea acknowledged she was not comfortable as goalkeeper, and she nearly gave California a fifth-minute lead while trying to punch away a Sissi corner kick. The ball hit off her hand — ''It bent back my finger,'' she said — and ricocheted backward. Kathryn Grandinetti, from the University of Colorado, cleared the ball off the goal line.

''We were kind of flustered,'' said Burt, who played with the Atlanta Beat and Philadelphia Charge. ''I don't think we even tested their non-keeper. … We were trying to hurry, and I actually think that threw us off our rhythm.''

Once Branam was in goal and Bivens on the backline, the Diamonds found their game, and the several hundred in attendance were treated to a marvelous exhibition of possession soccer by both sides. The Storm had more chances but not necessarily the better of play.

Denver went ahead two minutes into the second half when a back pass skipped over former Sacramento State defender and assistant coach Maureen Whitney's foot. Antongiovanni, who played last season for the San Jose CyberRays, pounced on the ball and beat University of Mississippi goalkeeper Brittany Gillespie one-on-one.

Schott, who played last season (and this year on occasion) with WUSA champion Washington Freedom, got the equalizer in the 76th minute after a period of Storm dominance against the tiring Diamonds. The goal came off a scramble after a corner kick had been cleared and sent back in, and the Diamonds argued unsuccessfully that Schott was in an offside position.

Sissi orchestrated the overtime winner, which arrived two minutes into the second of two 10-minute extra periods after the Diamonds pushed forward for a corner kick. The ball was knocked out of the box, and Sissi collected it and took off on a 50-yard run up the middle, directing Schott to her left and Burt to her right.

Once inside Diamonds territory, the former Brazilian national team and San Jose CyberRays star drew a defender to her, then spread the ball wide to Burt, who raced alone into Denver's box. Branam got a piece of Burt's shot to the far post but not enough to keep it from the net.

''I was going to come back for the [Denver] corner, but Sissi told me to stay up, and I'm glad she did, because that gave us numbers up [after] the corner kick,'' Burt said. ''Sissi gave me a great ball — she always does.''

The Storm (officially 13-2-1, but 14-2-1 with the earlier win over New England) is seeking its third WPSL title after championships in 1999 and 2002. The Mutiny, the first Eastern team to reach the final, had made the final four in both its seasons.

Utah and Denver will meet in a third-place game before the title match.