Sockers Put Aside Finesse, Clip Wings

When the Major Indoor Soccer League champions were placed in the unusual role of challengers Thursday night, they responded like the four-time champions they are.

If the Sockers’ 5-3 victory over the Wichita Wings was scored like a boxing match, then San Diego won a unanimous decision.

“I never saw the San Diego side work harder or tackle harder than they did tonight,” said Wings Coach Roy Turner. “This wasn’t a finesse game like the last time we played them. Tonight, they physically beat us.”

The Sockers raced to a 2-0 lead after one quarter and 4-1 advantage at halftime. Their very aggressive defense never allowed the explosive Wings a chance to get started in front of a loud and very orange sellout crowd of 9,681, which received orange balloons at the gate, at the Kansas Coliseum.

“This is the most intense we’ve been this year,” Sockers Coach Ron Newman said. “As soon as we came out, it was bang, bang. We battled, scratched and fought. We won the ball back. It was like our old selves.”

Brian Quinn, Hugo Perez, Branko Segota and Juli Veee each had a goal and an assist. Jean Willrich added a goal and George Katakalidis had an assist.

“Nobody was selfish,” Veee said. “We played a good game and a healthy game. The team pulled together. Nobody can match us in skill if we come in fighting and battling.”

Entering Thursday night’s game, the Wings led the Sockers by two games in the Western Division. Wichita also had come back from a 4-0 deficit to beat the Sockers, 11-9, Nov. 23 in Wichita.

“The miracle is over for them,” Newman said. “When the chips are down, we still had it.”

Jim Gorsek, who made 17 saves on 31 shots, shouted: “Revenge. We talked a lot about this game and asked one another who would do what.”

The Sockers regularly have a pregame meeting, but Thursday’s was more serious.

“We talked about playing with intensity,” Perez said. “Then we went out and did it. When we play together and everybody runs, nobody can stop us. Before today, not everybody on the team has been working hard.”

It did not take long to notice the change. Just 1:16 into the game, San Diego took a 1-0 lead on Willrich’s poke into the left corner of the net. Willrich stole the ball from Chico Borja, and then worked a give-and-go with Segota.

The Sockers made it 2-0 at 5:10 of the opening quarter on a fluke goal by Veee. The ball rolled off Veee’s body and slid past Jan Olesen, who entered the game as the top goalkeeper in the MISL with a 3.18 goals-against average.

If hustle is rewarded with goals, then Veee deserved a hat trick Thursday night.

“This was Juli’s best game so far this season,” Newman said.

Veee, in a jovial holiday mood, joked that his teammates didn’t recognize him when he showed up at the airport late Christmas night.

After all, aside from the game in Los Angeles last Sunday night, this was Veee’s first trip of the season. No injuries this time.

“The players thought I had a face-lift or something,” Veee said.

Quinn and Perez combined on the prettiest goal of the evening to give the Sockers a 3-0 lead nine minutes into the second quarter.

Quinn waited and waited while controlling the ball along the right sideboard. Suddenly he flicked a pass that bounced through the crease and straight to Perez, who tapped the ball into the goal.

“The defender finally committed himself,” Quinn said, “and lucky for me, the ball went through.”

Two minutes later, it was 4-0 when the Sockers capitalized on a mistake by Olesen. The Wings goalkeeper was dribbling along the left sideboard when Veee stole the ball and immediately hit Quinn in the crease. Quinn’s right-footer easily found the unprotected net.

“It must be the Christmas season,” Quinn said.

When their lead reached 4-0, the San Diego players said they started thinking of the teams’ first meeting this season.

That was when Wichita came back from a 4-0 lead. It was when Gorsek was mercifully replaced by Zoltan Toth. It was a game in which Erik Rasmussen had five goals and set a club record with seven points.

“My goal was to stop Rasmussen without a goal,” Gorsek said. “Our defense did a great job on him.”

Rasmussen, the fourth leading scorer in the league with 21 goals and 6 assists, was held scoreless. Borja, the second leading scorer in the MISL with 19 goals and 14 assists, was limited to one goal. Kim Roentved and Barry Wallace scored the other Wing goals.

Roentved scored late in the half to make it 4-1 at halftime. Segota kicked in a ball that rolled off his shoulder to make it 5-1 early in the third quarter.

Borja scored late in the third quarter and Wallace added a goal with less than a minute to play, but the Sockers had made their point.

“It was an important game for us to get a little respect back,” Quinn said. “We had to prove we are still the best team in the league.”

Socker Notes The Sockers face the St. Louis Steamers at 5:35 tonight at The Arena in St. Louis. A delayed broadcast can be heard on KLZZ (600) at 7:35. . . . An article in the Wichita Eagle-Beacon Thursday reported Juli Veee had said he would like to play in Los Angeles. The article said Veee made that comment during a taped halftime interview during last Sunday’s game against the Lazers. Veee’s response Thursday: “I said I had a chance to go to L.A. at the beginning of the season. I was messing around and saying silly things. It’s ridiculous.” . . . Steve Zungul had scored a point in 10 consecutive games before being shut out against the Wings.