Mistake by Birjukov Is Costly as Lazers Lose to Chicago in OT, 2-1

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.

Unfortunately for the Lazers, 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 its eighth victory in its last 10 games.

“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,” Harris 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 the Lazers the game.

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

With the Lazers leading, 1-0, midway through the fourth quarter, it seemed as though they might record their second shutout in the team’s history.

But former Lazer Batata blasted the ball past Harris 5:52 into the fourth quarter to tie the game and sent it into the first extra period. It was the 23rd consecutive game in which Batata has scored a point.

In the first half, both teams played rather apprehensively and, for the most part, missed on what opportunities there were.

The Lazers did manage to capitalize 5:07 into the second quarter when Gus Mokalis took a well-executed cross-pass from Birjukov and blasted a 20-foot shot into the upper left corner of the net past a diving Victor Nogueira, giving the Lazers a 1-0 lead.

The Lazers have two games on the road, against San Diego and Kansas City before breaking for the All-Star game.