Chicago Hands Lazers Their 6th Straight Defeat

One night after allowing 10 goals in a 10-6 loss to the Kansas City Comets, the Lazers turned in one of their finest defensive efforts of the Major Indoor Soccer League season.

So did the Chicago Sting, and in the end it was Chicago which handed the Lazers their sixth consecutive loss, beating them, 2-1, in double overtime before a Forum crowd of 4,325.

Both teams played remarkably well on defense, but when Lazer midfielder Darko Birjukov kicked the ball high off the glass in the Lazer zone, Chicago’s Frank Klopas scored on a diving header 1:14 into the second extra period to give the Sting the victory. “When I saw my team coming down, I just waited back,” Klopas said. “Then when I saw the ball coming off the board I just dove for it.”

Lazer goalkeeper Tim Harris, making only his second start of the season, played brilliantly but was helpless against Klopas’ header.

“Usually when someone makes a mental mistake, that’s what happens,” he said.

The Sting is 12-13 and the Lazers are 6-16.

Chicago Coach Erich Geyer, who is 11-6 after taking over for Willie Roy, agreed that it was a mental mistake that cost Los Angeles the game.

“If he (Birjukov) would have passed the ball to the goalkeeper or cleared it, it was an easy play,” he said.