Sockers Turn It On, and Go Two Up, 11-7

When fans began wondering what was wrong with the Sockers on Friday night, the answer became evidently clear.

Absolutely nothing.

An early 4-1 deficit turned out to be simply a mirage for the Sockers. They later scored a Major Indoor Soccer League playoff record of nine unanswered goals before holding on to beat Kansas City, 11-7, before 9,560 fans at the Sports Arena.

The Sockers also tied MISL playoff records for goals in one quarter (six) and power play goals (four). They could complete a three-game sweep of the best-of-five series Sunday afternoon at Kansas City.

If nothing else, the Sockers will be facing a Kansas City team that thought it was showed up Friday night.

The Comets were upset when Sockers’ Coach Ron Newman called a timeout with three seconds remaining. Newman said he merely wanted to practice his team’s free kick, which had been ineffective all night.

First, Kansas City Coach Rick Benben began yelling at Newman. Then after the game, Comets Steve Pecher and Mark Frederickson had heated words with Newman. Pecher also threw a shirt in Newman’s face. Finally, Kansas City’s Laurie Abrahams, a former Socker, put his arm around Newman and the discussion was over.

“They were upset because they were getting bleeping beat,” Newman said. “They didn’t have a clue what was going on. I tried to explain to their coach. He wouldn’t listen.”

So, Benben finally heard Newman’s explanation through sportswriters.

“That’s great,” Benben said in obvious disgust. “With three seconds left and a four-goal difference, our players don’t want to be out there killing themselves. If I would’ve thought of it, I would’ve sent my guys to the other end of the field and let them score.”

Kevin Crow of the Sockers could understand Kansas City’s frustration.

“They’ll take that as a rub in their face,” Crow said. “I would if I was their team.”

The Sockers did enough rubbing in when it really mattered.

Steve Zungul, who was held scoreless in the first game, had three goals and four assists. Branko Segota had four goals, while Hugo Perez had two goals and one assist.

At the outset, it appeared the Socker offense would again be frustrated by goalie Manny Schwartz of Kansas City. Schwartz made two improbable saves in the first quarter as the Comets built a 3-1 lead.

“Schwartz was stopping everything,” Segota said. “He could do it for one game. It was a matter of when we would break loose.”

Kansas City took a 4-1 lead just 1:22 into the second quarter. Crow made it a 4-2 game by scoring on a head shot at 1:46.

At the 2:09 mark, Schwartz accidentally hit his right thumb on the goal post. Schwartz, who had sprained the thumb on March 17, was not the same thereafter.

One second after the incident, Perez scored off Zungul’s indirect kick. Segota tied the game, 4-4, off Zungul’s drop pass at 2:55, giving the Sockers three goals in 1:09.

Segota gave the Sockers a permanent lead, 5-4, by heading in a Jean Willrich pass at 5:33. Zungul scored unassisted at 7:57, San Diego’s fifth goal in 6:11. Schwartz had to come out after that because the injury. Willrich fed Kaz Deyna for the Sockers’ sixth goal of the period at 13:33, providing them with a 7-4 halftime lead.

The rout was seemingly completed early in the third quarter. Zungul scored a power play goal at 2:14, Perez kicked in a Zungul pass at 6:18 and Segota scored the fourth power play goal at 7:11.

But if the 10-4 lead seemed insurmountable, the fans should have known better considering the game’s tempo.

Kansas City pulled to within 10-7 by the 6:02 mark of the fourth quarter. Newman had seen enough of goalkeeper Zoltan Toth, so he summoned Jim Gorsek to record the save. Segota scored into an empty Kansas City net with 1:16 to play.