Sockers Beat Steamers in Overtime, Lose Karic

The scene probably will loom in Ron Newman’s mind for the rest of the Major Indoor Soccer League Season--if the players and owners come to an agreement on a salary cap reduction and there are playoffs in 1988.

The Sockers defeated the St. Louis Steamers, 5-4, at the Arena in overtime on Hugo Perez’s goal at 2 minutes 59 seconds. But there were more important matters than the victory.

The Socker coach had walked a quick pace to see forward Zoran Karic rolling on the carpet. Karic had just shot from outside the penalty area in the second quarter, and goalie Slobo Ilijevski had made the save.

Trainer Bill Taylor said that Karic will be lost for the remainder of the season. At first, Newman thought Karic had torn or pulled a groin muscle. But Taylor informed Newman while the coach was talking to reporters that Karic had actually pulled a lower muscle in his abdomen.

Karic already has missed 27 games with various injuries, including a groin injury that he had just overcome, said Newman.

“I would have rather had the loss than get Karic injured or anybody injured at this point of the season,” Newman said. “He was just starting to get back into his good form.”

Forward Juli Veee said the loss of Karic will be felt down the road.

“This game meant nothing,” Veee said.

Defender Kevin Crow was a little more optimistic about the loss of Karic, who finished the season with 21 goals and 11 assists.

“If we can get a couple of people back, we will be fine,” Crow said. “We have always managed to get some people to pick up the slack in the past.”

Karic joins George Katakalidis, Keder, Waad Hirmez and Gus Mokalis on the injured list.

One player who just got off the injured list is back in form at the right time of the year. Perez beat Steamer rookie Kevin Hundelt to the ball in the overtime and drilled a shot past Ilijevski. Perez looked like the player of old Wednesday night.

Goalkeeper Zoltan Toth made 24 saves to win his 20th game of the season, making the Sockers the first team in the league’s 10-year history to have two 20-game winners in the same season. Toth is 20-6 and Jim Gorsek is 20-8.

“We had some very good play from Hugo and others,” Newman said. “He’s back at the right time. We need him for the playoffs.

But will there be any playoffs? The MISL released a statement on Wednesday afternoon reiterating that its position had not changed since a Feb. 24 announcement proposing that the salary cap be reduced from $1.275 million to $898,000 per team annually. The board of directors has announced that if an agreement was not reached on or before Friday, the league will cease operations on April 17--the last day of the regular season.

Wednesday’s statement confirming the league’s stance was in response to another counterproposal made by the MISL Players Assn.

“This is just another response that shows us that they will not deal with this matter fairly,” said Crow, the Socker player representative. “They have pushed the union around before, and they know they can scare the players.”

In Wednesday’s game, Redmond Lane scored his second goal at 11:50 when he picked up his own rebound and fired a shot under Toth to give the Steamers a 4-3 lead.

The Sockers pulled Toth at 3:10 for the sixth attacker, and the move by Newman resulted in a goal and forced overtime when Raffaele Ruotolo scored into the far left corner past Ilijevski at 1:57.

The Steamers had taken a 1-0 lead at 11:59 of the first quarter when Boki Bandovic hit a shot under Toth’s legs from the top of the circle.

The Sockers then scored three consecutive goals to take a 3-1 lead.

They tied the game at 13:12 when Paul Dougherty scored on a rebound past Ilijevski. Karic started the play with a blast that Ade Coker blocked in the crease, but Dougherty knocked in the rebound.

Vee made it 2-1 at halftime, bombing in a shot from the left boards at 14:31.