It’s Force’s Party, but Sockers Score When They Need It to Win

The Sockers had their cake and ate it too Saturday night, spoiling the party for 18,674 fans, the largest crowd in the Major Indoor Soccer League this season.

The East Division-leading Cleveland Force passed out pieces of cake to celebrate owner Bart Wolstein’s birthday, but the game’s final icing was provided by Branko Segota in the Sockers’ 6-5 overtime victory.

Segota picked up a loose ball at midfield, raced past Force defender Bernie James and went one-on-one against goalkeeper P.J. Johns. It was no contest. Segota placed his 26th goal of the season into the left corner of the net for the victory.

When asked how it felt to send more than 18,000 people home unhappy, Segota replied, “No big deal. I’ve sent 50,000 home unhappy too.”

Coach Ron Newman saw otherwise. “Did you see the gleam in his eye?” Newman said of Segota. “It was killer instinct. In that situation, no one is better than Branko. I’m sorry we spoiled the party, but we needed a party of our own.”

Waad Hirmez, playing a sixth-attacker, tied the score, 5-5, on a goal with 2:22 left in regulation.

“It was a typical MISL pinball goal,” said Johns, who along with the Sockers’ Jim Gorsek put on a goalkeeping clinic in the offense-oriented match.

Gorsek twice stopped Peter Ward on breakaways, though the Force midfielder had sparked Cleveland to a 5-3 lead with one goal and three assists.”

Cleveland took a 2-0 lead within a 10-second span of the first quarter as Ali Kazemaini scored at 7:14 and Craig Allen at 7:34, both on assists from Ward.

Tim Bartro’s first goal of the season, well-placed through a screen of Force defenders at 8:42 of the second quarter, pulled the Sockers within 2-1 at halftime.

The goals came fast and furious in the third quarter as Ward scored at 1:57, but Hugo Perez countered just nine seconds later for the Sockers, assisted by Jean Willrich.

Kazemaini’s second goal of the game, a full-volley blast on a rebound of Ward’s shot put the Force ahead, 4-2, at 3:32. But Bartro took a pass from Segota and scored his second goal at 7:09.

“I’m so happy for Timmy,” Newman said. “He’s worked so hard and took advantage of the opportunity tonight. I was saying before the game that with Quinnie (Brian Quinn) out, we’re going to need a boost. We got it from Timmy.”

Quinn, the all-star midfielder, suffered a sprained right knee in a 6-5 loss at Baltimore Friday night and will be out indefinitely.

“The key was to stay close,” Newman said. “We looked like we could score all night, and finally the ball started going in. Unfortunately, we didn’t track down enough on defense and it looked like Cleveland could have scored all night too. After all, they’re not leading their division on luck. They can play.”

Trailing, 5-3, after a power-play goal by the Force’s Gino DiFlorio, the Sockers began to rally as defender Fernando Clavijo scored his 13th goal of the season. Clavijo, whose tripping penalty had set up the Force’s final goal, took a pass from Cha Cha Namdar and scored from an extreme angle at 5:29 of the fourth quarter. The Force tried to slow the pace, but Newman went to a sixth attacker with 3:26 left.

“We went to it a bit earlier than usual because Cleveland wouldn’t give us the ball,” Newman said. “We had to take it. This time it paid off.”

It paid off in Hirmez’s goal off a scramble in front of the net, which set the stage for Segota’s overtime heroics.

“I guess you could say Branko blew out the candles,” Force captain Kai Haaskivi said. “It was a great game and a great crowd. And a great result . . . for the bad guys, I guess.”