Lazers Beat Sockers in Overtime, 4-3

James Buss, the Los Angeles Lazers’ president and general manager, was screaming “Unbelieveable!” and joyfully pounding his fist on the wall outside the Lazers’ locker room.

You would have thought that the Lazers had won the Major Indoor Soccer League championship Wednesday night in the San Diego Sports Arena.

Not quite. But Los Angeles did defeat the Sockers in overtime, 4-3, on Juan Cardenas’ 20-footer from the left side of the goal. The ball buzzed by Socker goalkeeper Jim Gorsek, setting of a Lazer celebration.

“Everything that could go against us seemed to go against us,” said Peter Wall, the Lazer coach. “But we kept fighting. We only had 11 fit players and I’m very proud of them.

“Obviously, we have to outwork San Diego if we’re going to win. We were tentative at first, but as the game went on, we got more confident.”

It was only the second time in 10 games that the Lazers have beaten the Sockers and both wins came in overtime. The first was a 6-5 victory Dec. 23, 1984 in the Forum. The teams have played eight one-goal games in series, including a 3-2 Socker win in the San Diego Sports Arena earlier this year.

Poli Garcia scored two goals and Greg Ion and Cardenas scored one apiece for the Lazers (3-6). Brian Quinn, Steve Zungul and Branko Segota scored for the Sockers (5-3).

In a game played in front of 7,094, San Diego took a 1-0 lead after one quarter. The teams were tied at 1-1 at halftime and at 2-2 after three quarters. Segota scored on a hard shot from the left of the circle to give the Sockers a 3-2 lead early in the final quarter, but the Lazers tied it on on a header by Garcia with just more than five minutes to play.

Then came the game-winning goal by Cardenas at 3:47 of overtime. The score was set up by a defensive mistake by the Sockers.

“The ball hit my chest,” said the Sockers’ Kevin Crow, who was defending on the play. “And the momentum took me backward. I thought Jean (Willrich) would get it and he thought I would get it.”

Cardenas got it and kicked it.

“I don’t know why Kevin hesitated,” Ron Newman, Socker coach, said. “You don’t wait for your teammates. You clear the ball.”

That was just the start of Newman’s tirade.

“None of us seemed to be fit tonight,” Newman said. “We didn’t look ready to run and we made silly mistakes. I didn’t feel good about things when we headed into overtime.”

The Sockers never trailed in the game until the Lazers raced off the field with the victory.

San Diego took a 1-0 lead on an unassisted goal by Quinn at 12:52 of the first quarter.

Quinn stole the ball from Darryl Gee along the right sideboard in the Lazers’ end of the field, and passed to himself off the right board. Lazer goalkeeper Mike Mahoney committed himself when he went after the ball, and Quinn lined a shot from a difficult corner angle into the far side of the net.

San Diego controlled play for most of the second quarter, but the Lazers scored the lone goal. Cardenas led a break on a counterattack and passed to Ion on the left wing. Ion chipped the ball over Gorsek at 13:36 to tie the score.

At 6:10 of the third quarter, Zungul scored on a give-and-go from Kaz Deyna to give the Sockers a 2-1 lead. Zungul stole the ball from Batata at midfield and passed to Deyna in the middle of the field. Deyna delicately tapped the ball back to Zungul, who virtually dribbled the ball to the Lazer net and stuffed it in.

Moments after Zungul’s goal, Garcia scored a power play goal on a hard shot from the right corner. Quinn was off for tripping.

San Diego regained the lead when Zungul passed to Segota on the left side of the circle, and Segota rifled a 15-footer directly past Mahoney and into into the center of the net.

After the Sockers failed to capitalize on a power-play opportunity, the Lazers tied the game at 3-3 on a header by Garcia at 9:54.

Neither team did much offensively until the Lazers got a power play advantage with 31 seconds left in the game. San Diego was penalized for having too many men on the field.

With eight seconds to play, Gorsek made a fine glove save of a liner from the right wing by Gus Mokalis. The Sockers ran out the clock and the teams headed into overtime.

San Diego almost won the game while playing short-handed at the start of the overtime period. Segota and Cha Cha Namdar had a two-on-one fast break, but Mahoney came out of goal and took the ball away from Segota just as he closed in on him.

Seconds later, a kick by Molano hit the crossbar and then Socker defender Gary Collier’s header back to Gorsek hit the crossbar.