Sockers Rally to Beat Stars in Overtime, 6-5
Socker Coach Ron Newman said it all: “Bloody amazing.”
A very tired Socker team, playing without six injured regulars, came from three goals behind to defeat the Tacoma Stars, 6-5, in overtime Sunday night in front of 12,934 at the Tacoma Dome.
Socker midfielder Branko Segota took a pass off the boards from Juli Veee and scored the winning goal on a left-footer from inside the penalty area at 10:17 to give the Sockers a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Western Division finals.
The Sockers can move into the Major Indoor Soccer League championship series against the Dallas Sidekicks with a victory at home Tuesday night.
San Diego is 5-0 in playoff overtime games. They have won two straight games in this series. And in a game that was very similar to their 6-5 come-from-behind victory in Game 1, the Sockers somehow found a way to win.
“What a wonderful win,” Newman said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the lads work this hard. Everyone worked hard.”
The Sockers trailed, 4-1, in the second quarter, 5-3 at halftime and 5-4 until late in regulation. Veee, who played as a defender and was everywhere on the field Sunday, tied the game with a turnaround shot from inside the penalty area on a Socker super power play with 2:05 left in regulation.
“I went down in the middle,” Veee said. “That’s a play we used to do. Branko hit me and the ball bounced over the goalkeeper’s hand.”
In overtime, Star forward Preki had three shots hit the post and Socker goalkeeper Zoltan Toth made a magnificent save on Joe Waters’ shot.
“I don’t know how long luck is going to continue to be on their side,” said Star forward Steve Zungul, who made a key mistake that hurt his team late in the game.
The Sockers trailed, 5-4, and were playing with a sixth attacker when the Stars were called for an illegal substitution with 2:27 to play. Tacoma had too many men on the field, and their extra man at midfield was none other than Zungul.
“It was a misunderstanding on the bench,” Zungul said. “I went on the field. It was my mistake.”
Almost incredibly, it was the first penalty of the game called against the Stars. It gave the Sockers, who used defender Kevin Crow as their sixth attacker, a two-man advantage. And Veee scored.
Veee had a goal and an assist. Segota had two goals and two assists. Kaz Deyna, Paul Dougherty and Hugo Perez also scored for San Diego. Toth made 9 saves on 21 shots.
Zungul, Preki, Gary Heale, Ricky Davis and Godfrey Ingram scored for the Stars. But once again, the Stars appeared to go into a shell once they had a three-goal lead.
“We were tired,” Segota said. “They got the breaks. Then all of a sudden, they went into a defensive shell.”
Tacoma scored three straight goals in the opening five minutes of the second quarter. Heale knocked in a rebound and Zungul and Davis scored power-play goals to give the Stars a 4-1 lead.
Segota put in a left-footer from the left corner at 5:55 of the second quarter, and Perez scored on a tap-in off an excellent pass off the boards by Willrich to make it 4-3 at 9:02.
The Sockers had the momentum, but the Stars countered with a rebound goal by Ingram with 1:44 remaining in the half.
At 9:05 of the third quarter, Dougherty lofted in a rebound from inside the penalty area to pull the Sockers within one.
Then came the comeback.
“We were cutting our throats early,” Crow said. “But we’re good enough to come back.”
Socker Notes
Defenders Waad Hirmez (who wrenched his back in Saturday’s game), Carlos Melian (who suffered a sprained right ankle Saturday) and George Katakalidis (wrenched back) did not make the trip. Midfielders Jacques Ladouceur and Juli Veee had to help out as defenders. Midfielder Brian Quinn (pulled right hamstring), forward Njego Pesa (groin strain) and goalkeeper Jim Gorsek (broken finger) also missed Sunday’s game. Who made the trip for San Diego? Midfielders Raffaele Ruotolo and Tim Bartro. Ruotolo had played in three previous playoff games and this was the first playoff game for Bartro, who hadn’t played since April 24. Veteran Kaz Deyna, who hadn’t played since April 18 and scored only one goal in 13 games this season, also made the trip. Deyna, who can still perform magic, scored the Sockers’ first goal Sunday on a volley from the top of the box. . . . The Tacoma Stars had a wake-up call for 5:45 Sunday morning in San Diego. That was 7 hours and 45 minutes after they lost to the Sockers, 6-2. At 7:10 Sunday morning, the Stars boarded a flight for Sea-Tac airport. They arrived at 9:40 and were immediately whisked to a hotel in Tacoma to rest for the game at 7:35. The Sockers flew out of San Diego at 9:30 Sunday morning and arrived at their hotel in Tacoma at 2. Why did the teams play a home-and-home series just 21 1/2 hours apart? In the MISL, scheduling revolves around available weekend home dates. The Sockers couldn’t play at home Friday night because the rock band Deep Purple had a concert at the Sports Arena.
