Sockers Blow Advantage, Lose to Force in OT

The Sockers appeared to have things in hand. There was 1:09 remaining in Friday night’s Major Indoor Soccer League game with the Cleveland Force and San Diego had a two-man advantage with the score tied 3-3. The odds were pretty good that the Sockers would win their third-straight game and its league-high 26th win of the season.

So much for the odds.

The Sockers couldn’t score in the last 1:09 of regulation and the 51 seconds of overtime. Finally, Mike Sweeney scored with 1:03 gone in overtime to give the the Force a 4-3 win in front of 11,524 fans in the Sports Arena.

Cleveland, getting its only win over San Diego in four games this season, improved its record to 18-15. The Sockers, losing for the first time at home since a Jan. 17 loss to Baltimore, fell to 25-9 and saw their lead in the Western Division trimmed to 4 1/2 games over Las Vegas, which beat St. Louis, 5-3, Friday.

“They tried to give us the game with that 5-3 advantage but we just couldn’t take advantage of it,” Sockers Coach Ron Newman said. “At the end of the (fourth) quarter, we shot too much and in the overtime period we couldn’t get any shots.

“This was really one of our worst games I’ve ever seen here because we had so many chances to win it.”

When Sweeney was called for tripping Jean Willrich for Cleveland’s sixth foul of the final period and then picked up an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on top of it, San Diego appeared in position to win. The Sockers had outshot the Force, 29-16.

“That two-man penalty may have been a blessing in disguise for us,” Sweeney said. “They’ve had good success against us all year when it was five against four. With the two-man advantage, it looked like they were all trying to force it in.”

After the penalties were killed, Force forward Louis Nanchoff broke free down the right side and sent a shot that Socker goalie Zoltan Toth blocked with his face. Sweeney came in on the left side and put the rebound off Toth’s hand into the net for the winner.

“When I got out of the (penalty) box, I started to head for my own goal,” Sweeney said. “But, I saw Louie break in. All I wanted to do was get the shot on goal.”

Sweeney’s 10th goal of the season helped dampen the performance of San Diego’s Steve Zungul, who scored one goal (his 46th) and picked up two assists to take over the MISL scoring lead.

Zungul’s goal came with 14:09 gone in the third period and gave the Sockers a 3-2 lead. Keith Furphy tied it on a power-play goal at the 13:37 mark of the fourth quarter to force the overtime.

In the first half, the Sockers controlled play, outshooting Cleveland, 16-9.

Willrich scored his 33rd and 34th goal of the season, to keep the Sockers even.

His first goal came at 10:38 of the first period after a no-look pass from Zungul. Willrich’s shot deflected off Cleveland defender Benny Dargle and beat Force goaltender P.J. Johns.

Willrich also received some help on his second goal. After Alex Tarnoczi tied the score for Cleveland, Willrich scored on a power play when his shot deflected off Bernie James and beat Johns at 13:30.

The Force tied it again early in the second period when Furphy broke out of his own zone and gathered in a perfect pass from Johns at midfield.

Furphy, who had a step on Socker defender Cha Cha Namdar, streaked in a slipped the ball over a sprawling Toth to tie the game, 2-2.