Blast Gets Revenge Over the Sockers With Overtime Win
Revenge came to the Baltimore Blast Friday night, 150 days and one long summer after their loss to the Sockers in last season’s Major Indoor Soccer League championship series.
It came in overtime, on a goal by forward Mark Kelvin, giving the Blast a 3-2 victory over the Sockers at the Civic Center.
In the Sockers’ last appearance in Baltimore, they humiliated the Blast, 14-2, on national television in the fourth game of the championship series. San Diego won the title in five games.
The Sockers also defeated the Blast, three games to two, to win the 1982-83 MISL title. But Baltimore Coach Kenny Cooper points to the teams’ all-time head-to-head record--nine victories apiece--and insists, “This has to be one of the greatest rivalries in MISL history.”
Friday night’s season opener for both clubs, played before a sellout crowd of 12,523 fans, was pretty fair evidence.
With just under two minutes played in the overtime period, the Sockers made their second key defensive mistake of the game and the Blast capitalized.
The first mistake occured with the Sockers leading, 2-1, midway through the final quarter. Blast defenseman Tim Wittman rocketed a shot off the glass above goalkeeper Zoltan Toth. The rebound hit Socker defender Fernando Clavijo in the shoulder and rolled into the net, beyond the desperate lunge of Toth.
That was a gift for the Blast. Give Baltimore more credit on the game-winner.
Listen to a very dejected Socker forward Ade Coker explain the shot that rocked the Civic Center:
“They were breaking and I got back and covered,” Coker said. “I cut the ball off and tried to play it back to Zoalie. I didn’t play it hard enough to Zoalie, they made a good pass off the board and they scored.”
Kerlin quickly started the Blast victory celebration around the arena and Coker sat dejectedly in the penalty area.
“It wouldn’t take three fingers to count the times I’ve made mistakes like that,” Coker said. “It’s criminal to lose like that.”
On the other side, it was a memorable debut for Kerlin. The 23-year old forward came to the Blast from the Dallas Sidekicks during the offseason.
Kerlin was in a perfect position to take Bruce Savage’s pass and line it into the goal from straight-away in the penalty box.
“When Bruce got the ball on the left side,” Kerlin said, “I made a diagonal run inside. The ball came right to me on the ground and the goalkeeper was off to the side. By the time I struck it, it was in the middle of the net.”
Toth said he tried to cut down Kerlin’s angle, but had no real play on the ball.
That goal touched off an outburst from fans who were frustrated throughout most of the evening.
Two teams that combined for 554 goals last season (the Sockers had a league high 302 goals) played the first scoreless first half in the 18-game history of the series.
Was this outdoor or indoor soccer?
“The longer it goes 0-0,” said Socker defenseman Kevin Crow, “the more it is in our favor. This is their home turf. They can’t play a boring style of soccer at home. We don’t care if the fans boo us.”
The Blast fans did not boo their beloved heroes, but they certainly did get quiet quickly. This was a big game in Baltimore and these fans were hungry for the kill.
In Baltimore, indoor soccer warrants a five-page preseason supplement in a local paper and a pep rally that drew 200 fans to a restaurant Wednesday night.
Outside of the traditionally wild and circus-like introductions, the rowdy Blast fans got their first chance to really cheer when Mike Stankovic scored on a left-footer from the top of the box at 8:23 of the third quarter.
The lead was short-lived.
San Diego got its first goal of the season from an unlikely source. Midfielder Jacques Ladouceur scored his sixth career goal on a right-footer from a terrible angle in the right corner. Van Eron got his hand on the ball, but it rolled by him into the net. Kaz Deyna got the assist.
The Sockers took a 2-1 lead on a power-play goal by Deyna just 50 seconds into the final quarter.
Deyna scored on what the players call a one-touch in practice. Positioned inside the penalty box, Deyna received a pass from Branko Segota and rifled it into the goal in one motion.
The Sockers continually put pressure on Van Eron and had their chances to increase their lead, but shots on goal are a statistic usually only pondered by the losing team.
San Diego outshot Baltimore, 25-22. Van Eron made 13 saves and Toth had nine.
“The good thing is I thought we looked the better team most of the time,” Sockers Coach Ron Newman said. “But I thought we looked a little tired and thin going into overtime.”
That was when the Blast scored the goal to give them Round 1 of the 1985 season.
But remember, Baltimore beat the Sockers in all three regular season games last season.
Then came the playoffs . . . and the Blast’s long summer.
“This is a big game,” said Blast forward Stan Stamenkovic, “but there are 47 games to go. I think the Sockers and Blast will be in the championship series again this year.”
Sockers Coach Ron Newman said the team played the game under protect because the teams were not permitted to switch benches at halftime. The benches at the Civic Arena are not equidistant from the center of the field, as is specified by league regulations, and Newman said he feels that gives the Blast an unfair advantage. “We are protesting,” Newman said, “but I don’t know if we have any hope to win.”
