TIANJIN, China - Canada's women's soccer team could have wilted under the heat and humidity and stifling noise of the pro-Chinese crowd.

Instead, they turned the intense conditions in their favour Saturday, playing host China to a 1-1 draw to remain unbeaten at the Olympic Games.

''Playing that well, with the crowd behind China, quieting them. . . it's a great feeling,'' Canada's captain Christine Sinclair said after the game.

Sinclair scored the lone goal for Canada at Tianjin Olympic Centre Stadium, to give Canada a 1-0-1 record their women's Olympic soccer debut. China is also at 1-0-1, tied with Canada atop Group E.

The Canadian veteran's goal came in the 34rd minute when Kara Lang chipped a pass over a Chinese defender's head to Sinclair's foot. Sinclair volleyed the ball past Chinese 'keeper Zhang Yanru.

Canada's coach Even Pellerud was pleased with his players' efforts, but said a win would have been a just result for his team that dominated most of the night.

''They seemed very unaffected by (the crowd), they seemed to feed off the energy in the stands and it didn't bother them at all,'' Pellerud said. ''I think this was one of the better performances I have seen from a focused effort, from tactical discipline, from goal-scoring chances, consistency and also we seemed to be by far the fitter team out there and that surprised me a little bit.''

The Chinese Steel Roses responded in the 36th minute when Xu Yuan beat Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod, firing a hard, low shot to the left corner. Defender Randee Hermus slid to get her foot on the ball, but it was already in the net.

The tie was a decent result for the Canadians, playing before a raucous crowd of 60,000 Chinese fans nearly bursting with national pride. They belted out the Chinese national anthem before kickoff, an impressive sound in the circular stadium that's also known as the ''Water Drop.'' They cheered madly with every Chinese possession, and booed the Canadians when they had the ball.

''It was like nothing I've never experienced and it was eye-opening to our team to see that because it's going to be like this more and more as we progress through the tournament,'' said forward Jodi-Ann Robinson. ''We did a great job. We didn't listen to the crowd, we talked to each other on the field.''

''After a while, it's just noise,'' added midfielder Amy Walsh. ''It's the way you use it. I think there were a couple of chants and they were in Chinese and they were chanting for their team but to me, it sounded distinctly like `Can-a-da.'''

While No. 9-ranked Canada may have seemed the favourite over the 14th-ranked Chinese, the Canadians have only beaten China once in the 19 times the two teams have met, dispatching China in the quarter-finals of the 2003 World Cup.

Otherwise, the Canadians have five draws against China - the most recent before Saturday was a 0-0 tie at the Four Nations tournament in January in Guangzhou, China earlier this year - and 13 losses.

The Canadians held much of the possession through Saturday's game, and had numerous excellent scoring chances, including a shot by Rhian Wilkinson that banged off the crossbar and one by Lang that hit the right post.

Sinclair could have had at least one more goal herself. In the 30th minute, she looked poised to score, deking out a Chinese defender at the top of the 18-yard box to set up for an open-wide shot. But she slipped and fell on the spongy turf, and lay on the pitch in frustration for a minute or two.

McLeod came up big for Canada in the 79th minute when Xu got her head on a free kick from Bi Yan and McLeod leapt to tip the ball over the net. She then made a diving save on a shot from Bi in the 95th.

The game was the second Canada has had to play in the suffocating heat and a grey haze of fog hung over the upper deck of the stadium.

''It was bad,'' Sinclair said. ''We were driving to the stadium today, and were like, `oh look, the sun.' And it was this faint little yellow dot in the sky. Obviously the conditions aren't ideal, but I think what's harder to play in is the heat and humidity. It's not the smog that gets to you, it's the fact that you're drenched by the end of the game.''

Sinclair said the final few minutes were gruelling as the play went back and forth.

''Everyone was absolutely exhausted, they're exhausted, we're exhausted, we'd attack and there was no midfield and then they'd attack. . . just leaving everything out on the field, trying for that last goal,'' Sinclair said. ''They had some chances, we had some chances, it got to the point where, `ref just blow the whistle, let it end.'''

The Canadians believed the crowd may have been the largest they had ever played in front of, but added it certainly wasn't the most hostile.

''Maybe in (Olympic) qualifying when we played Mexico, because the Mexican fans are a little bit more hostile than these fans are, these fans are just supporting their team, whereas in Mexico, they're a little nuts,'' Sinclair said. ''It's a great atmosphere, you can't help but laugh, when you see Kara with the ball and they're booing, you can't help but think `hee hee, good luck.'''

Sinclair was one of five Olympians that were on the team that played in front of some 48,000 fans at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium in the final of the under-19 world championships in 2002.

''It's just completely different, obviously back in Canada they're cheering for you, and at the time we were a bunch of 18-year-olds, just completely overwhelmed with the whole situation,'' Sinclair said. ''We're a lot more experienced, but at the same time these are the Olympics on a much bigger scale, everything means just a little bit more.

The Canadians head to Beijing to wrap up preliminary-round action Tuesday against Sweden (No. 3), which edged Argentina 1-0 earlier in the day to set up a crucial matchup for Canada.

''Sweden is definitely one of best teams in the world right now, they were unlucky not to have beaten China,'' Sinclair said. ''They keep the ball, like China does, but they're a lot more physical than China is, so it's going to be a tough game for us. But if we play the way we played tonight, we'll create a lot of chances again.''

The Swedes (1-1) were upset 2-1 by China in their opener on Wednesday. Argentina is last in the four-team pool at 0-2.

Om other results, it was: United States 1 Japan 0; Norway 1 New Zealand 0; Germany 1 Nigeria 0; and Brazil 2 North Korea 1.

The top two teams in each group advance to the quarter-finals along with the top two third-place teams, so even in the event of a loss, the Canadians have a good chance to advance.

The Canadians will likely have bruising striker Melissa Tancredi of Hamilton, one of the team's biggest offensive threats, back in the lineup. Tancredi didn't play after leaving Wednesday's game against Argentina in the 41st minute with an ankle injury.