Veee Picks Up Slack for Sockers : San Diego Defeats Wichita in First Game Without Zungul, 10-6

Steve Who? The Lord of All What?

Who needs Steve Zungul, anyway? The Tacoma Stars may need him, but the Sockers certainly didn’t miss indoor soccer’s all-time leading scorer Friday night.

While Zungul was playing his first game for Tacoma, the Sockers made do without him by defeating Wichita, 10-6, in front of 9,391 fans at the Sports Arena.

In Zungul’s absence, the Sockers counted on their longtime lord, Juli Veee (remember him?), against Wichita. Veee scored his first hat trick of the year and had one assist as San Diego won for the 14th time in 15 games.

Though Zungul had been in the limelight most of the year, Veee said he really didn’t mind. He thought he received more than enough attention his first time around in San Diego, leading the Sockers to three straight championships before being sold to Las Vegas before the 1984-85 season.

“What happened was that there were four or five good players the first time I was here,” Veee said. “Now, it’s more difficult to get in the limelight because there are seven or eight good players here. That makes it easier to play.”

It was extremely difficult for Veee to play Friday. He had been in bed four days with the flu, getting up in time to go half-speed during Friday morning’s practice.

Veee said he did not feel pressure to pick up the slack for Zungul, but Coach Ron Newman’s comments were a bit more telling.

“That’s what we talked about before the game,” Newman said. “We all had to make a little bit more of an effort. Juli was weak with the flu, and he fought like a tiger. Branko (Segota) proved he and Stevie are not Siamese twins. Branko is his own independent superstar.”

Segota, now San Diego’s leading scorer, has played in Zungul’s shadow his entire indoor career. Friday was the first time Segota played an indoor game without Zungul as his teammate.

Even with his best friend in Tacoma, Segota had two goals and one assist.

“It felt different without Stevie,” Segota said. “Stevie was so good at being a target for me. I knew where to put the ball. I’ll have to be more patient when I pass the ball off now.”

Newman will also have to be more patient with a team that no longer has the league’s top scorer.

Before the game, Newman said he expected the slack to be picked up by Veee, Segota, Hugo Perez and Ade Coker. Perez had one goal and two assists. Coker, playing for the second time since missing 13 games with a sprained toe, was scoreless.

“The system will remain the same,” Newman said. “It’s a matter of trying to find somebody to fulfill the role Steve had. Steve was always taking the brunt of the punishment. Now, we’ll have to find somebody else to do that.”

The Sockers began their onslaught of Wichita 5 1/2 minutes into the game when Jacques Ladouceur scored in front off Jean Willrich’s pass. After Chico Borja scored for Wichita, Veee kicked in the rebound of a George Katakalidis shot at the goalmouth.

Erik Rasmussen tied the game for Wichita, 2-2, then Willrich scored off a give-and-go from Segota with 45 seconds left in the first quarter.

Wichita tied the game for the third time, 3-3, on Keld Bordinggaard’s 50-foot goal midway through the second quarter. However, the Sockers took a 4-3 halftime lead when Veee scored after a Raffaele Ruotolo shot had hit the glass above Wichita’s goal.

The Socker lead became 7-3 on two third-period goals by Segota and one by Cha Cha Namdar. One of Segota’s goals came on a power-play, San Diego’s second successful power play in its last 14 attempts.

Wichita pulled to within three goals, 7-4, on Mike Fox’s shot with 1:48 left in the third period.

Then, it was Veee time again. He completed his hat trick by scoring with 1:19 left in the quarter off a pass from goalkeeper Jim Gorsek.

Wichita twice pulled to within three goals on fourth-period scores by Dave Hoggan and Rasmussen. However, goals by Perez and Namdar put the game to bed for San Diego. Namdar’s goal was scored while San Diego was playing shorthanded.

“We seemed really high and hyper,” Newman said. “Everyone had something to prove. We had to prove we could win without Steve.”

And so they did.

Socker Notes If Steve Zungul ever leaves Tacoma, the Sockers will have the first right of refusal to reacquire him, owner Bob Bell said. Before Tacoma could trade or sell Zungul, the Sockers would have the right to buy him back for the $200,000 that the Stars paid to obtain him. If Tacoma folded, the Sockers would also have first shot at buying Zungul. . . . Midfielder Brian Quinn had to sit out Friday’s game under league rules because he had accumulated 20 penalty minutes. Quinn will return in Sunday’s game at Tacoma. . . . The Sockers have a 100-22 career record at the Sports Arena.