Sockers Hold Off Wichita

Branko Segota could have been considered the Sockers’ hero in a 7-3 victory over Wichita Friday night. He scored three goals for the second straight game and had one assist.

Jean Willrich also could have been the hero. He had two goals and one assist.

But the real hero didn’t even play the first half.

He was goalie Jim Gorsek, who made seven saves while shutting out Wichita in the second half of the Sockers’ victory in front of 9,147 fans at the Sports Arena.

Zoltan Toth had played the first half in goal and allowed all of Wichita’s goals. Toth, an All-Star, was kicked above the left eye in practice Friday morning.

“Zollie’s a funny lad,” Coach Ron Newman said. “He’s superstitious. When something happens, he doesn’t think it is an accident. He thinks it’s not his day. He felt a spell was on him tonight.”

So Newman decided to switch to Gorsek in the second half.

“If this wouldn’t have happened to me, maybe I would’ve had a different day,” Toth said, pointing to the cut above his eye. “Maybe I would’ve been lucky.”

Toth has been anything but lucky in recent weeks.

He was out of action five weeks with a broken bone in the ring finger of his right hand.

In his first start six days ago, he played well as the Sockers beat Pittsburgh, 7-3. But Friday was a different story.

With three minutes left in the first half, Newman told Gorsek to get ready for the second half. Gorsek made a few practice saves in the hallway at halftime, then he went out and did it for real.

“It wasn’t that Zoltan didn’t play well,” Gorsek said. “We were getting confused in the first half. Sometimes when a new goalkeeper comes in, the confusion goes. With a new goalkeeper, maybe everyone thinks they have to play a little tighter.”

San Diego (21-7) is making a mockery of the Major Indoor Soccer League’s Western Division. The Sockers lead second-place Los Angeles by five games.

Since Baltimore lost to Chicago, 5-2, the Sockers also have the best record in the MISL. Baltimore is 20-7.

Wichita fell to 13-12 while losing its fourth straight.

Steve Zungul added one goal and one assist to the Socker attack against Wichita. He trails Chicago’s Karl-Heinz Granitza by one point in the league scoring race.

The bad news for San Diego was that Hugo Perez suffered a pulled hamstring. He is expected to be sidelined for two weeks.

Just as it did in Wednesday’s 9-2 rout of the Cosmos, San Diego built an early three-goal lead.

Segota scored the first goal at 1:19, dribbling around three defenders before beating goalie Mike Dowler.

Brian Quinn made it 2-0 at 2:06, scoring off the rebound of his own shot. It became a three-goal game at 6:40 as Segota tipped in a Willrich pass.

But unlike the Cosmos two nights previous, Wichita decided to make a game of it for a while.

Erik Rasmussen beat Toth from 20 feet out at 8:40. Andy Chapman scored a goal close in at 12:52 while sliding for the ball, making it a one-goal game.

Early in the second period, Chapman almost tied the game. However, defender Fernando Clavijo blocked the shot in front of an empty net at the last second.

Willrich gave the Sockers a 4-2 lead at 6:39 of the second period, scoring on a loose ball in front of the goal. Wichita’s Barry Wallace made it 4-3 with a goal at 7:47 while Toth was out of place and left the net unguarded.

Willrich’s penalty kick at 6:43 of the third period put the Sockers ahead, 5-3. Kaz Deyna set up the penalty kick by intercepting a Wichita pass. When Deyna had an open shot at the net, Wichita defender Kevin Kewley committed an intentional hand ball. The Sockers were awarded with the automatic penalty kick.

The game became a rout on fourth-period goals by Segota and Zungul.

Segota, who did not make the All-Star team, has six goals and one assist in the last two games.