Sockers Overcome Pittsburgh, 7-3 : San Diego Takes Spirit Out of Spirit in the Third Period

Opinions varied about exactly when the Sockers took control of Sunday’s Major Indoor Soccer League against the Pittsburgh Spirit.

When the Sockers were two goals down, Fernando Clavijo thought his team was going to win.

When the Sockers were one down, Branko Segota said he knew the Sockers would win.

And when the score was tied, Coach Ron Newman said he finally got that winning feeling.

After trailing by three goals, the Sockers rebounded to rout Pittsburgh, 7-3, before 11,763 at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena.

“As soon as the score was 3-2, you could see it was all over for them,” Segota said. “They started to slow down and stopped attacking. They gave us room, so we picked at them. They can’t hold us to one goal. It’s impossible. We have too many players who can score.”

Indeed, seven Sockers scored and three each had one assist. Segota had three assists, and one goal was unassisted.

San Diego trailed 3-0 after the first period, and was down at halftime, 3-1. But within the first 6 minutes of the third period, the Sockers took over.

Steve Zungul made it 3-2 by scoring off Segota’s assist 44 seconds into the second half. Clavijo tied it by scoring on the rebound of a Brian Schmetzer shot at 3:50. Jean Willrich gave the Sockers their first lead with a 30-foot shot at 6:06.

“When it was 3-3, I knew it was time to put the pressure on,” Newman said. “I knew we had the game then. Pittsburgh was under pressure because of the (Stan) Terlecki thing.”

Terlecki, Pittsburgh’s leading scorer, has not played the last four games for disciplinary reasons. Spirit Coach John Kowalski and General Manager Chris Wright think Terlecki’s attitude is a detriment to the team.

Even without Terlecki, Pittsburgh had little trouble scoring at the outset. The Spirit took a three-goal lead after 13:52 had been played.

Zoltan Toth, who was making his first start in goal for the Sockers since breaking a finger bone on Dec. 26, said, “I thought to myself that I better do better than that,” Toth said.

He did. Toth, who made only two saves in the first period, ended with 11.

“I still need lots of practice,” Toth said. “Next week, I will practice a lot.”

With Toth holding off the Spirit attack, the Sockers began their comeback against Pittsburgh on Brian Quinn’s goal at 3:51 of the second period.

“When we scored our first goal, I saw we could score with no problem,” Clavijo said. “I said to myself then that we had an unbelievable chance of winning.”

Clavijo and Schmetzer both scored their third goals of the year. Clavijo, who missed nine games earlier in the season with a bruised right knee, has three goals in three games.

“What has happened is that I’m going forward more than before,” Clavijo said. “When I first came back from my knee injury, I didn’t want to take chances. I feel better now. That’s why I’m going forward.”

The Sockers (19-7) have won five of their last six games and lead Wichita and Los Angeles by 4 1/2 games in the Western Division. Pittsburgh (10-15) has lost four of five.