Sockers Suffer a Letdown, 7-2 : Bickering Resurfaces After Stars Even the Series

Split mentality.

It sounds like the title of a mystery novel, but in fact, it’s what the Sockers talked about avoiding Sunday night.

That is, having a letdown in the second game on the road after winning a playoff series opener. And thereby settling for a split.

For the second series in a row, the Sockers suffered the second-game blues. And for the second series in a row, their opponent played an excellent Game 2. And for the umpteenth time in a row, the Sockers moaned and groaned after a loss.

The Tacoma Stars evened the best-of-seven Western Division finals at one game apiece with a 7-2 victory over the Sockers at the Tacoma Dome.

“This was exactly like that second game in Kansas City (a 5-1 loss in the first round),” said Socker Coach Ron Newman. “What will we have to do if we have to stay more than two nights in a hotel? Why are they so listless?

“Bloody dead. We’re not ready to battle. Nobody wants to run. I urged them in training. Some people don’t want to bloody work. We were sitting ducks. It was just like Kansas City.”

Or like much of the past season, according to Socker defender Kevin Crow.

“It reminds me a lot of the last 52 games,” Crow said. “There is only one soccer ball on the field. Only one person can have it at one time. Everyone else has to run. We need six soccer balls.”

Branko Segota--the Sockers’ leading scorer and top offensive threat--barely saw the ball. After scoring 17 points (10 goals and 7 assists) in four playoff games, Segota was held without a point Sunday.

“We played three games as a team,” Segota said. “Then everyone wants to do everything on their own. I didn’t touch the ball the first half. I had one chance the whole game.”

At one point in the third quarter, Newman was getting on Segota behind the Socker bench.

“He blamed me for a goal,” Segota said. “He needs a scapegoat again.”

In the Tacoma locker room, the players were talking about how they maintained a lead against the Sockers. The Stars were annoyed with themselves for blowing a two-goal lead in the final quarter of their 6-5 loss Friday night.

“It would have been easy to feel sorry for ourselves after the other night,” said Star Coach Alan Hinton. “Tonight, I’m very pleased with our team’s performance.”

The Stars took the lead and never trailed. Playing in front of 9,055 fans, they led by 1-0, then 2-1, then 3-2 at halftime and broke the game open with two goals in the third quarter. They added two empty-net goals when the Sockers were playing with a sixth attacker late in the game.

Godfrey Ingram scored twice and Steve Zungul, Gary Heale, Cico, Gregg Blasingame and Preki once each for the Stars. Goalkeeper Joe Papaleo made 14 saves on 36 shots.

Jean Willrich--on fire offensively in the past four playoff games--scored both goals for San Diego. Zoltan Toth made 12 saves on 21 shots.

One of the few moments that Toth will try to remember occurred early in the second quarter. Toth was called for holding Zungul inside the box, and Zungul was awarded a penalty kick.

This season, Zungul had scored on all seven of his penalty kicks.

But this time, Zungul’s right-footer from the top of the box was off to the right of the post. Victory for Toth.

“I thought maybe we’d have some momentum after that,” Toth said.

Late in the first half, Zungul got revenge. He scored on a right-footer off a free kick at 12:57 to give the Stars a 3-2 lead.

“We controlled the midfield tonight,” Zungul said. “They made some mistakes. We got some breaks and scored some goals.”

And the Sockers had a severe case of split mentality.

Socker Notes The latest word on goalkeeper Jim Gorsek is that he may not need surgery on his middle finger, which he fractured in Friday night’s game. If surgery is not necessary, it is possible that Gorsek could be available to play in 10 to 14 days, which means he might be available for the MISL championship series if the Sockers beat Tacoma. After returning to San Diego Saturday night, Gorsek was examined by team physician and hand specialist Laughlin Vetter Sunday. Vetter wants to examine the X-rays that were taken in Tacoma and have Gorsek re-examined before making a final decision Tuesday. Gorsek’s surgery was initially prescribed and set for Thursday after he had X-rays and was examined late Friday night at a hospital in Tacoma. In order to sign another goalkeeper, the Sockers had to place Gorsek on the disabled list Sunday. That means he cannot play for five games, including Sunday’s game.

Coach Ron Newman said he will find out today if veteran goalkeeper Hubert Birkenmeier will be able to join the Sockers for the remainder of the playoffs. Because of Gorsek’s injury, the Sockers are looking to acquire a backup goalkeeper. Newman first spoke with Birkenmeier Saturday, and the 38-year-old former star said he will see if he can get out of an obligation he has with a club soccer team.

It turns out that the Sockers were fined $25,000 last week by Major Indoor Soccer League Commissioner Bill Kentling for violating the league bylaw against “win bonuses,” but the fine was unanimously overturned by the MISL executive committee of the Board of Directors Friday.

Last week, two Socker supporters offered a $1,000 bonus to each San Diego player if the Sockers defeated the Kansas City Comets in the opening round of the playoffs. When contacted last Tuesday, Kentling said the Sockers would not be fined because the San Diego management had not been aware of the bonuses.

But on Sunday, when asked why a vote of the executive committee had become necessary, Kentling said: “I fined San Diego $25,000. As I continued to investigate, what I did find out was that Ron Newman gave permission and accompanied the people into the locker room.”

Under league bylaw 21.1, no owner, coach or employee of management can be involved in the offering of “win bonuses.” “It doesn’t matter if money changed hands,” Kentling said. “It’s the intent.” Thus, Kentling said he had to fine the Sockers.

Owner Bob Bell appealed the fine and pleaded his case to members of the executive committee Friday. “They (executive committee) felt the circumstances didn’t warrant it (the fine),” Bell said. “The club was not responsible. No one in management approved of it. When we learned of it, we put the kibosh on it.”

Executive committee members Baltimore Blast director Nathan Scherr, Chicago Sting chairman Lee Stern, St. Louis Steamer president Thomas Bowers and Tacoma Stars president John Best voted 4-0 not to fine the Sockers. Cleveland Force president Bert Wolstein is a member of the committee, but was not available to take part in the vote. And Bell was not allowed to vote on this matter.

“The feeling of the committee was that discipline should be taken against the individuals rather than the team,” Kentling said. Kentling said he would meet with Newman in San Diego later this week to discuss Newman’s participation in offering the bonuses.

Newman’s account of the incident: “I was suddenly confronted with this seconds before we were to go out on the field (before Game 4 against the Comets). My first thought was, ‘Is this all right?, Is it legal?’ I had no time to get any bearings. They went in and talked to them. It was totally innocent. We weren’t trying to go through the back door.”

Ironically, Star president John Best voted to overturn Kentling’s fine even though his club was fined $25,000 earlier this season for offering “win bonuses” in players’ contracts. The Stars’ appeal was turned down by the executive committee. Said Best: “I think $25,000 is a tremendous amount of money. I don’t think we should go by black-and-white letters on a piece of paper to say that something must be done. By the regulations, San Diego was guilty. But I didn’t think it was fair to San Diego. I didn’t think the fine to Tacoma was fair. But there is no doubt, that under the bylaws, the commissioner’s actions in both the San Diego and Tacoma cases, were correct.”

In the case of the Stars, Best said $5,000 was paid out to players who had win bonuses for specific games written into their contracts. “We made an error,” Best said. “We were wrong to do that. I called the commissioner and told him about it. It only affected two games and we ceased it immediately.”

Brian Quinn celebrated his 27th birthday Sunday while sitting in the stands. Quinn has a strained right hamstring. Juli Veee (sprained right knee), George Katakalidis (wrenched back) and Njego Pesa (strained hamstring) played despite not being 100%.