Sockers Play Lousy, Lose to Lousy Team

The Sockers are probably the best team in the Major Indoor Soccer League, but their defense can remind people of the Chargers at times.

In one of their worst defensive performances of the season, the Sockers were upset Friday night by lowly Tacoma, 7-6, in front of 8,434 fans at the Sports Arena.

The Socker offense did its part, led by Steve Zungul with three goals and one assist. But everytime the Sockers closed in on Tacoma, they gave up a goal to make things that much more difficult.

“Defensively, we were absolutely terrible tonight,” Sockers Coach Ron Newman said. “I don’t mean just the two defenders and the goalkeeper. I mean the six guys on the field. They can’t organize themselves well enough. They don’t even make it difficult to score.”

At times, the Sockers made scoring rather easy for Tacoma.

One Stars’ goal came when a ball deflected off Kevin Crow and changed directions on goalie Jim Gorsek. Another goal came after Gorsek went out to kick a loose ball but was beat, leaving an open net. Three more Tacoma goals were scored by players who capitalized on easy shots in front.

“Everytime we came back on them, we let in a silly goal,” Newman said. “We can’t just rely on skill. We still have to concern ourselves with our system. They played their system better than we played ours. They did everything better and quicker than we did.”

Tacoma, 8-12 and losers of its last three games, is nowhere near as talented as the Sockers. The Sockers (14-5) had won two straight and four of five.

“We played a no-name team,” Newman said. “You are supposed to win games like that. I hate those kinds of games. We’re going to be sitting ducks for these teams.”

It was the second time in three home games that the Sockers were sitting ducks for a team with a record below .500. The Cosmos won here Dec. 21, 5-3, snapping San Diego’s 19-game home winning streak.

Against Tacoma, the Sockers were behind almost all night. After the score was tied early, 1-1, the Sockers did not tie it again until late in the third period, 4-4.

Tacoma took a 5-4 lead into the fourth period and added a goal 2:19 later by Paul Maguire. Zungul cut the score to 6-5 with his third goal of the night and 30th of the year at 4:41.

The Stars’ Mark Peterson scored at 5:19, making it a 7-5 game. Jean Willrich answered at 10:22 off a Zungul assist.

With 3:01 remaining, Newman pulled Gorsek and had Zungul wear the goalie’s jersey as an extra attacker. Willrich was stopped on an outstanding foot save by Mats Johannson with two minutes left, but that’s as close as the Sockers could come.

Johannson had a superb night making 19 saves.

Tacoma had taken the lead just 57 seconds into the game when Dale Mitchell scored in front of the goal off a Ray Evans pass.

Branko Segota tied the score for San Diego at 2:01 with a rather unusual goal. He was coming off the bench when Johannson made a pass that happened to go right to Segota, who kicked the ball into an open net.

Maguire gave Tacoma a 2-1 lead off a loose ball at 6:44. The Stars’ made it 3-1 when Mitchell scored from the goal-mouth off a Ralph Black pass.

The Sockers closed the score to 3-2 on Paulo Moura’s unassisted goal at 4:14 of the second period. Moura kicked in a loose ball in front of the goal.

Tacoma took its second two-goal lead, 4-2, when Evans deflected a ball off Crow and into the goal at 6:11. The Sockers’ halftime deficit was 4-3 after Zungul scored with an assist from Cha Cha Namdar at 11:25.

San Diego tied the game on Zungul’s goal at 6:09 of the second half on the rebound of a Willrich shot. But Tacoma took a 5-4 lead on a goal by former Socker Gary Heale at 13:43 that was partially blocked by Gorsek.

Since Los Angeles beat St. Louis, 7-5, the Sockers now lead the Lazers by just one-half game in the Western Division.