Sockers Lose Defender Schmetzer, Game to Steamers

With everything else going wrong, the Sockers were at least comforted by a two-goal lead late in Friday night’s Major Indoor Soccer League game against St. Louis.

But even that turned on them. The Steamers scored three goals in the final 5:17, including the game-winner by Rick Davis with 14 seconds remaining, to snap the Sockers’ five-game winning streak, 4-3.

To make matters worse, Socker defender Brian Schmetzer suffered a broken right foot in the second period. San Diego already had five regulars sidelined, and Jean Willrich was playing at less than 100% with a heavily taped right thigh.

“I couldn’t afford one more injury on defense, but I got it,” Coach Ron Newman said. “That’s exactly what I didn’t want.”

Schmetzer joined defenders Paulo Moura (bruised knee) and Gary Collier (broken ankle) on the sidelines.

The only healthy defenders are Fernando Clavijo, Kevin Crow and George Katakalidis. Midfielder Cha Cha Namdar, who played defense at times last year, was again moved back to defense.

However, defense was not the Sockers’ ultimate problem against St. Louis. Instead, their strategy was.

With a 3-1 lead after the third period, the Sockers decided to get conservative. They played keep-away most of the fourth period, frequently kicking the ball back to goalkeeper Jim Gorsek.

“What happened is they became a little complacent,” Davis said. “They felt overconfident with the lead and kicked a lot of balls to the goalkeeper. One of San Diego’s strengths is its ability to go forward. I think (the strategy) was an error in judgment.”

Even the Sockers agreed.

“We sat back and let them come at us,” Namdar said. “We should’ve forced our game at them. They took a lot of shots. Sooner or later, they’re going to go in.”

St. Louis outshot the Sockers, 36-23.

When the Sockers led, 3-1, Tony Bellinger of St. Louis scored on a free kick with 5:17 to play. Bellinger stepped over the ball with his left foot, kicked it with his right foot and nobody else touched it. Gorsek said he was screened out by Steve Moyers of St. Louis and Katakalidis.

With 2:26 to play, the Steamers pulled goalkeeper Ed Gettemeier in favor of a sixth attacker. The strategy paid off when Daryl Doran took a pass alone in front from Davis and scored from 20 feet out with 1:45 remaining.

Davis scored his winning shot from close range after two successive Steamers shots bounced off the boards. Gorsek said he never saw the ball on that play, either.

“When it was 3-1, we had to sit back and let them attack,” Gorsek said. “You’re supposed to counter-attack, but we only did it at times. Other times, we knocked the ball around and tried to kill the clock. I guess we didn’t kill enough of it.”

The Sockers were at a disadvantage the final 3:40 of the fourth period with five fouls. A sixth-foul would have resulted in a two-minute penalty, so they had to play cautious defense.

“The referees were terrible,” Newman said. “If we’re gonna have to mark them, we’ll mark them. Let them put on shirts from the other team.”

Newman said that despite the officiating, the Sockers had numerous chances to put the game away early. However, he thought fatigue--caused by regulars playing more to fill in for injured players--made his team less sharp than usual.

Steve Zungul scored all three San Diego goals and Branko Segota had two assists. Zungul thought he had a fourth goal early in the fourth period, but the goal judge ruled otherwise.

Zungul and Segota played on the same line with Willrich all night.

“The only time we’re potent is with that line out there,” Newman said. “Otherwise, we have to play younger players who don’t know what to do half the time.”