Lazers Win at San Diego in Overtime

Lazer President and General Manager James Buss was screaming, “Unbelieveable!” and joyfully pounding his fist on the wall outside his team’s locker room.

You’d have thought the Lazers had won the Major Indoor Soccer League championship Wednesday night before 7,094 fans at the San Diego Sports Arena.

Not quite. But Los Angeles did defeat the Sockers, 4-3, at 3:47 of overtime on Juan Cardenas’ 20-footer from the left side of the goal. The ball buzzed by Sockers goalkeeper Jim Gorsek, and the Lazer celebration began.

“Everything that could go against us seemed to go against us,” said Lazer Coach Peter Wall, whose team returns home from a three-game trip to play Minnesota at the Forum tonight. “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 win on Dec. 23, 1984, in Los Angeles. The teams have played eight one-goal games in their series, including a 3-2 game here earlier this season.

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

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 Lazer 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 game at 1-1.

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, Poli Garcia scored on a power play on a 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 past Mahoney and 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.