Sockers Have Lapse and Lose to the Lazers

When it comes to playing the Sockers, the Lazers are streak-busters.

The Sockers had won seven straight before losing to the Lazers, 3-2, in overtime Sunday night at the Forum. Earlier this season, the Lazers snapped a nine-game Socker winning streak with a 4-2 victory in San Diego Feb. 2.

It wasn’t the end of the streak that bothered the Sockers as much as the way in which they lost.

“If you win when people aren’t giving 100%, you are rewarding them,” Socker defender Kevin Crow said. “They think there’s nothing wrong with it. You have to learn your lesson sooner or later.”

The Sockers had won 13 straight on the road, which was just two victories shy of tying the Major Indoor Soccer League record of 15 set by the New York Arrows in 1980-81.

The Lazers started out by losing 8 of their first 11 home games this season, but they’ve won four straight at home and are 8-9 at the Forum.

Goalkeeper Jim Gorsek had won eight straight on the road before Lazer forward Zoran Savic scored the game-winner at 5:51 of overtime.

The Sockers had won four straight overtime games on the road during their streak.

But the Lazers’ comeback in front of an announced crowd of 5,469 fans put an end to the streaks.

Los Angeles trailed 2-1 when it pulled goalkeeper A.J. Lachowecki and put in sixth attacker Mark Frederickson with 2:49 left in the game.

Just 24 seconds later, midfielder Michael Collins scored from inside the penalty area off an excellent centering pass from Chico Borja.

“They had three players there,” Gorsek said. “We only had two guys back. Michael Collins had a wide open net.”

On the game-winner, the Lazers converted a 4-on-2 opportunity.

“The whole key was movement,” said Borja, who assisted on the tying and winning goals. “We knew if we wanted to create things, we needed movement.”

Borja hit Savic as he crossed through the middle, and Savic scored on a ball that Gorsek said went off his hand.

“Eventually 4-on-2 breaks result in goals,” Gorsek said. “They should have scored a lot more. We had mental breakdowns. We’re too good to do that.”

The Sockers (30-10) picked up 10 minutes in penalties, but they stayed in the game by killing off all five two-minute penalties.

Socker defender Fernando Clavijo said the Sockers were “a little undisciplined” and the Lazers were “very intense.”

It’s a script that sounds familiar.

The Lazers (20-19) have won three of five meetings against San Diego this season and are the only team with a winning edge over them.

“You have to be motivated to beat the best in the league,” Borja said. “Not too many teams have beaten San Diego.”

And each time the Lazers have celebrated.

“This was a great win for the franchise,” Lazer Coach Keith Tozer said.

Across the hall, outside the visiting team locker room, Socker Coach Ron Newman asked: “Did they win a championship or what?”

For Newman, the most disturbing part of Sunday’s loss wasn’t the end of the streaks or that the Lazers picked up a game and now trail the Sockers by 9 1/2 games in the Western Division. Not by any means.

“When you’re 10 1/2 games ahead, it doesn’t mean much when you lose a game,” Newman said. “But it’s the way we lost it. We should have scored that third goal. We didn’t do the job properly.”

The Sockers managed just two first quarter goals by Waad Hirmez and Raffaele Ruotolo. They failed to score for the final 54 minutes of the game.