It’s a Record Night for Sockers in 10-7 Victory
There are times such as Sunday night when friendships can be tested by a soccer game.
Branko Segota of the Sockers scored four goals through three periods, leaving him one goal short of good friend and teammate Steve Zungul for the season. With another goal, Segota would have deprived Zungul of his third outright Major Indoor Soccer League triple crown.
As it turned out, Zungul secured the triple crown by scoring his 68th goal of the year with 3:15 to play. It capped the Sockers’ 10-7 win over Las Vegas, which gave them a league record of 37 wins in a season.
It was that kind of night for Zungul and the Sockers.
At 6:46 of the second period, Zungul set an all-time league record with his 66th assist. He had two goals and four assists on the night, finishing with 68 goals and 68 assists for the season. Furthermore, Zungul already holds the league record of 101 goals in a season.
Zungul is also the only player in league history to win three triple crowns--thanks in part to Segota.
“If a situation had arose where I had no choice but to tie Stevie (in goals), I probably would’ve stuck the ball in,” Segota said. “But if I had a choice, I was going to pass it.”
Said Coach Ron Newman: “There were a couple of times we could’ve scored, but I had to warn Branko not to score. He might’ve been able to put the ball in the net, but he didn’t shoot.”
There were also a couple of times Segota did shoot, only to have goalkeeper Alan Mayer make saves.
Early on, Zungul appeared to be passing the ball more than usual in hopes of setting the assist record. And even after he set the record, he still often made passes instead of shooting.
“When I came here, everyone said all I did was score goals,” Zungul said. “Now that I have the assist record, people can’t say that I just score goals. I’m not selfish like some people think I am.”
Zungul, a five-time Most Valuable Player in the MISL, has had another season to remember. Besides the assist record and triple crown, he earlier had scored his 500th career goal and 800th career point.
The Sockers also had other records on their minds Sunday. They finished the season with 302 goals, tying the all-time MISL record set by the New York Arrows in 1981-82. And goalkeeper Zoltan Toth recorded his 11th assist, an all-time record for goalkeepers.
Other than that, Sunday was not a day to brag about for goalkeepers.
Mayer, a former Socker, allowed three goals before he made a save and finished the night with only eight saves. In addition, he drew two-minute penalties for both holding and committing a hand-ball out of the goalkeeper’s box.
Toth had 15 saves, but he nearly let Las Vegas come back from an 8-3 deficit. The Americans pulled to within 9-7 before Zungul scored with 3:15 to play.
Mayer said the goalkeeprs could take some solace from the fact it was a meaningless game. The Sockers already had clinched the league’s best record (37-11), and Las Vegas (30-18) had the third-best mark.
“But I still feel I could’ve played a lot better,” Mayer said. “This was a game when they scored a lot of goals they shouldn’t have. So did we. We scored three goals that deflected in off their defenders.”
The Sockers will be off until opening the MISL playoffs at home on April 24 against either St. Louis, Kansas City or Wichita. St. Louis is seeded eighth, Kansas City ninth and Wichita 10th in the playoffs. The Sockers will face the lowest-ranked team that wins in this week’s mini-playoffs. St. Louis plays Kansas City and Wichita plays seventh-seeded Minnesota in best-of-three series.
San Diego will attempt to win its fourth straight indoor championship, including two in the North American Soccer League. The New York Arrows won four straight MISL championships.
However, Newman claims the current Sockers are the league’s best team ever.
“We’ve broken every record there is to break except goals,” Newman said. “Ask anybody and they’ll tell you that the league is much better now than it was in 1981-82. It’s much more difficult to win now.”
But that hasn’t stopped the Sockers so far in 1984-85.
