Perez Leads Sockers Past Strikers, 7-2
Hugo Perez is a magician.
Not only can the Socker midfielder do dribbling tricks with the ball, but he does a great disappearing act, too.
He’ll score a couple of hat tricks in a week and then won’t be heard from for several games.
But after going scoreless in the Sockers’ last three playoff games against Tacoma, Perez came back strong Friday night in the San Diego Sports Arena.
Despite playing with a contusion on his right hip and a pulled left hamstring, Perez had a goal and two assists in the first half to lead the Sockers to a 7-2 win over the Minnesota Strikers in the opening game of the Major Indoor Soccer League championship series.
“I saw a sparkle in his eye tonight,” said Socker Coach Ron Newman of Perez. “Hugo always does well against this team.”
Said Perez jokingly: “Now you want to talk to me because I scored a few points. I won’t talk to the press tonight.”
His silence lasted but a few seconds.
“The last three games I haven’t been scoring,” Perez said, “but I’ve been playing well. The balls were not going in, but I wasn’t down. I played more tonight (with Branko Segota sidelined) and that helps a lot.”
Perez was one of seven Sockers to score Friday night.
Socker captain Jean Willrich, Juli Veee, Brian Quinn, Fernando Clavijo, Kevin Crow and Brian Schmetzer (that’s right, three goals from defenders) also scored. Veee added two assists.
Socker goalkeeper Jim Gorsek made 11 saves on 20 shots, while Striker goalkeeper Tino Lettieri made 15 saves on 29 shots.
Playing in front of a spirited crowd of 10,370, the Sockers took a 2-0 lead after one quarter, led 3-1 at halftime and 4-2 after three quarters.
The Sockers, 26-0 at home in the playoffs, added two goals in the final two minutes when the Strikers were playing with six attackers.
Some expected this to be the first Socker playoff loss at home.
Segota was out of action with a strained left calf muscle suffered in the third quarter of the Sockers’ 8-5 series-clinching win against Tacoma.
That means the Sockers were missing the league’s leading scorer in the playoffs with 10 goals and 15 assists for 25 points. During the regular season, Segota led the Sockers in scoring with 60 goals and 46 assists for 106 points.
In addition to playing without Segota, the Sockers were 0-3 against the Strikers during the regular season.
While the Strikers had four days to rest after defeating Cleveland, the Sockers came into the game riding the crest of their stunning come-from-behind win against Tacoma Wednesday night.
That’s when the Sockers scored four goals in the first five minutes of the final quarter and six goals in the quarter to turn a 5-2 deficit into an 8-5 win.
San Diego came out inspired Friday night. Forget the diagrams with the Sockers. This club plays on emotion and they picked up where they left off in Tacoma.
Their attack was relentless.
“We thought we could come out and set the pace,” said Striker Coach Alan Merrick. “They don’t allow you to play at your pace. They hurry you and they punish you. They established a rhythm that undermined what we wanted to do.”
San Diego took an early lead.
Willrich took a perfectly timed centering pass from Perez and stuffed the ball into the net with his right foot to give the Sockers a 1-0 lead at 4:17.
Late in the quarter, Clavijo blasted a rising left-footer from the top of the circle past Lettieri to make it 2-0.
Early in the second quarter, Thompson Usiyan scored to make it 2-1.
The way San Diego dominated the game was not reflected in the score. In the second quarter, the Sockers outshot the Strikers, 13-2.
Perez took a pass off a corner kick and knocked in a left-footer from the point to make it 3-1 at halftime.
When Steve Zungul was sold to Tacoma, Segota took over offensively. With Segota out of the lineup, Perez asserted himself.
“Hugo probably feels more responsibility with Branko out,” Newman said.
In the third quarter, Crow and Striker defender Dwight Lodeweges exchanged goals.
After not scoring in the playoffs, Schmetzer scored his second goal in two games to make it 5-2 at 10:48 of the final quarter.
That was it until the Sockers turned the game into a track meet in the final minutes.
“We played great,” Gorsek said. “If we play like that the next three games, we’ll take it in four.”
