Sockers Are Just Good Enough to Beat Lazers, 3-2

One of these seasons, the Los Angeles Lazers think they might be contenders for the Major Indoor Soccer League championship.

But on Saturday afternoon at the Forum, the Sockers showed them just how far have to go.

The Sockers played at what they admitted was somewhat below their capability, but even that was good enough to beat the Lazers, 3-2, in front of 6,189 fans.

“I thought we deserved to win the game,” Lazer Coach Peter Wall said. “San Diego is the best team in the league. We went out and did as well as we could.”

The Sockers also did their best under what they considered a difficult circumstance. They had beaten Tacoma on Friday night in San Diego, 7-5, to clinch the Western Division title then had to board the team bus at 9:45 a.m. Saturday for the trip north.

Their long day was made a little brighter by the fact that Saturday’s victory gave the Sockers the home-field advantage for the entire playoffs, as Baltimore lost to Pittsburgh, 6-3, earlier in the day. Even so, some players were less than satisfied with the team’s effort.

“I think we are playing at about 60 to 70% of what we should,” defender Kevin Crow said. “We have to start turning things around more . . . look at what Villanova did to Georgetown.”

The Sockers have not fallen victim to any Cinderella teams in their last three playoff appearances. They have won three straight indoor championships, two in the North American Soccer League and one in the MISL.

While the Lazers (23-22) have clinched a playoff berth, more is at stake. They are third in the Western Division, and the top three teams in each division draw byes the first round.

If the Lazers eventually get caught by fourth-place Wichita, they can blame much of it on Socker goalkeeper Zoltan Toth.

Toth was named defensive star of Saturday’s game for good reason. He made 20 saves, several on shots from point-blank range. Toth made seven saves in the second quarter alone when the Lazers outshot San Diego, 10-2.

“He came up with the big play on everything we did,” Wall said. “I don’t know what else we can do when we do everything right except get the ball past him. He was the difference. I thought he dominated the game.”

San Diego had taken the early lead at 4:57 of the first quarter on Steve Zungul’s league-leading 65th goal. Branko Segota scored his 60th goal for the Sockers at 13:12 of the quarter.

Kaz Deyna increased San Diego’s lead to 3-0 at 10:59 of the second quarter, scoring off Zungul’s corner kick on a power play. The Lazers’ only goal of the half was scored by Juan Cardenas at 14:29. Even then, Toth had made outstanding saves on back-to-back shots before the Lazers finally scored.

After a scoreless third quarter, Cardenas nearly scored into an empty net early in the fourth quarter. However, defender Fernando Clavijo kicked the ball aside at the last instant.

“I saw that the ball was going in,” Clavijo said. “All I could do was hope I could do something with it.”

The Lazers pulled goalkeeper Tim Harris with 2:59 remaining in favor of an extra attacker. Cardenas scored with 2:19 left, but Toth could not be beaten again.

Coach Ron Newman complemented his team’s defense, which hadn’t warranted much praise recently.

“If we don’t start playing better defense, we will have a tough time in the playoffs,” Newman said. “Sometimes, we score goals because our defending isn’t that good. If the other team doesn’t score, we score at the other end because we have the man advantage. That means everybody didn’t get back on defense. When we have the ball, we can destroy people.”

Lately, opponents have been destroying the Sockers’ defense, collecting 27 goals in the last four games before Saturday.

Clavijo said that the blame rested on the team’s defense, not just the defenders.

“We have had problems defending as a team all together,” he said. “When the forwards don’t come back and we face a four-on-two, there’s not much we can do. I wouldn’t say it is just the defenders, it’s everybody.”

And when the Sockers claim they are not playing to full potential, that also means everybody.

“OK, so we won today,” Crow said. “We still made a lot of mistakes and have to straighten things out. For instance, (the Lazers) had too many breakaways on us. That’s because we made team mistakes to let them have breakaways. We have to knock those things off.”

But even playing at less than their best, the Sockers have a habit of knocking off the opposition.