e possession than we had, for sure," Seattle coach Sigi Schmid said. "But I think that we had s | Forum

LEVI, Finland -- American teenager Mikaela Shiffrin easily won the World Cup slalom opener Saturday, beating reigning Olympic champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany by more than a second to send an immediate message to her rivals ahead of the Sochi Games. Onitsuka Tiger Soldes . The 18-year-old slalom world champion led by half a second after the first run and raced seamlessly at the top of the hill in the second to extend her advantage, overcoming a mistake near the end to clock a combined time of 1 minute, 55.07 seconds. "Im really happy with how the day went and Im also really excited because it looks like there are some pretty fast girls in the back of the pack," Shiffrin said. "Im excited for the Olympics for sure but there are a couple of races between now and then, so hopefully I can just keep this going." Hoefl-Riesch, who was in a tie for third place after the first run, skied nearly flawlessly in the second but still finished 1.06 seconds behind in second place. Last years overall World Cup champion Tina Maze of Slovenia, who struggled in the giant slalom opener in Soelden last month, was third, 1.61 back. Shiffrin emerged as a major star in the discipline last season by winning both the World Cup slalom title and the world championship race, making her one of the major medal favourites for the Sochi Olympics. Her dominant display on Saturday did little to lower expectations on the teenager -- although Shiffrin thinks theres still plenty of room for improvement. "Every day there is something you can do better," Shiffrin said. "Im going to go back and study my skiing from today and study all the other girls to see who is doing what well and try to get better." Another 18-year-old also made a name for herself, as Christina Ager of Austria finished fourth in her first career World Cup start. Ager started with bib No. 53 but was fifth after the first run -- in part because of favourable winds -- and then missed the podium by just 0.07 seconds. Hoefl-Riesch has won three World Cup slaloms in Levi and made the podium for the seventh time here. "It was a great day for me. I had a good feeling in training already," she said. "Its always really special for me here because of my first win many years ago and because of my many good results here." Maze said she was happy to get back to skiing fast after the disappointing result in Soelden, where she struggled with the high expectations after her dominance last season. "I got a lot of pressure in Soelden race, it was the start of the season so it was not easy to handle all of this pressure so I felt really empty," Maze said. "But at the end I realized its nothing important, the only thing important is to ski fast." Marlies Schild of Austria, the slalom specialist who injured her knee in December 2012, returned for the first time since recovering fully but was already well behind Shiffrin in the first round by the time she missed a gate and skied out. Still, Schild was just happy to finally be able to ski without feeling any effects of the injury. "Of course I wanted to race a second run but yeah, its not so bad at all," Schild said. "Im in a good shape, I have no pain anymore and thats very important for me and I just have to wait, I think, to get a good feeling." Four-time former overall World Cup champion Lindsey Vonn skipped the Levi meet and will make her debut in the speed events in Beaver Creek, Colorado, after recovering from a right knee injury sustained in a crash in February. "She is back and shes strong," Shiffrin said of her teammate. "Im impressed with how strong she is. ... I dont think anybody should count her out thats for sure." For Shiffrin, the Olympic gold medal is clearly main goal for this season, although she received another memorable prize on Saturday. In a first for this year, organizers presented the winner with a live reindeer from the local Lapland region. Shiffrin named the 6-month-old reindeer Rudolf, although she wont be allowed to take him home with her. "I scared him off a bit when I jumped off the podium to meet him but I think we will be getting along," Shiffrin said. "I hope that when he gets older and trained I can go for a ride on a sledge with him." Asics Gel Lyte Pas Cher . The 19-year-old Olsen played 34 games with the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL this season. In that time, hes recorded 17 goals and 17 assists with 36 penalty minutes. Soldes Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66 . Isner, ranked No. 14, won his eighth career singles title and took the title in New Zealand for the second time after his victory in 2010. The match was similar to Isners quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber which went to three sets, all tiebreaks and contained no breaks of serve. http://www.onitsukatigerasics.fr/asics-aaron-homme.html . The news was first reported on Gonzalezs Twitter account and confirmed by the Rockies. Gonzalez has a six-week window before position players have their first workout at spring training in Arizona.CARSON, Calif. -- Seattles Eddie Johnson and Los Angeles Juninho traded first-half goals and the Sounders and Galaxy settled for a 1-1 draw Saturday night. Johnson headed home a corner kick to give Seattle a 25th-minute lead, and Juninho scored on a 24-yard free kick in first-half stoppage time. Seattle (15-8-5), which saw its five-game winning streak halted, increased its lead in the Western Conference and Supporters Shield standings to two points. Los Angeles (13-10-6) jumped back into fourth place in the West, five points behind the Sounders. Both teams were without their U.S. national team stars. Galaxy forward Landon Donovan sprained his ankle sustained last weekend and Sounders forward Clint Dempsey strained a calf in training this week. The Galaxy were dominant after halftime, scoring a potential tiebreaking goal that was waved off and created little else that was concrete. "We just werent good enough in the final third of the field, with the final pass or our look at the goal, and it made a difference in the game," Los Angeles coach Bruce Arena said. "We obviously got the one goal called back. If that was a foul, then maybe Eddie doesnt get his goal in the first half. I thought (the officiating) was inconsistent, and in a tight game like that,, those kinds of plays and calls are what decides the outcome. Asics Aaron Pas Cher. " Johnson scored on an open header from about 8 yards, losing Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez as he started his run at the top of the box to get to Mauro Rosales serve. Johnson nearly scored another in the 39th, but Los Angeles goalkeeper Jaime Penedo leaped to grab his open shot in the box. Juninho tallied with the final touch of the first half, bending a free kick from just above the semicircle inside the left post. Rookie Gyasi Zardes forced a leaping save from Seattle goalkeeper Michael Gspurning with a blast toward the upper-right corner in the 19th minute, and he appeared to put the Galaxy ahead following a free kick 15 minutes into the second half, after Gonzalez headed Juninhos cross into the goalmouth. Referee Silviu Petrescu whistled the Galaxy for a foul, apparently on defender Todd Dunivant, while the ball was in the air. "I think they had a little more possession than we had, for sure," Seattle coach Sigi Schmid said. "But I think that we had some very dangerous chances. ... I think we had opportunities to get our second goal, but thats the way it is. Its an end-to-end game, an exciting game for the fans, but it wasnt always the best soccer." 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