After Year Off, Sockers Again the Team to Beat

“They’re the better team. Through the season and in the playoffs.”

--Socker defender Kevin Crow,

June 4, 1987

“As an ex-Socker, I’m happy they’re down. Since I left them, they haven’t been the same. Now I finished them.”

--Star forward Steve Zungul,

June 4, 1987 The Tacoma Stars had just defeated the Sockers, 8-5, in front of 16,074 fans at the Tacoma Dome in the seventh game of the MISL Western Division championship series.

San Diego’s streak of five consecutive indoor championships had ended. Tacoma was being touted as the Sockers’ successor, the team to beat in the West.

Tacoma had the best record in the league (35-17) and the home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, and it came within two minutes of winning the title before it lost the seventh game of the championship series to the Dallas Sidekicks.

The Sockers struggled through an injury-riddled regular season, barely beat Kansas City in five games in the opening round of the playoffs, then lost to Tacoma.

Both teams certainly have undergone a transformation since.

The Sockers added some key players and ran away from the rest of the league, finishing with a 42-14 record, 15 games ahead of the fourth-place Stars in the West. They set league records for victories in a season (42), at home (23) on the road (19) and in overtime (10).

The Stars lost goalkeeper Joe Papaleo and midfielders Gerry Gray to free agency and traded Godfrey Ingram. They changed coaches from Alan Hinton to Jimmy McAlister midway through the season and finished 27-29.

In the seven meetings between the teams this season, the Sockers won six, including three by one goal (one in overtime and another in double overtime). But the Sockers also beat the Stars by scores of 10-3, 6-2 and 7-2. The Stars won their lone game by a 6-4 score.

“We couldn’t compete with San Diego this year,” Zungul said. “They’re a much stronger team than last year. We’ve had lots of difficulties. Things didn’t work out the way we expected.”

Tonight, the teams will meet at 7:35 in the opener of their best-of-five first-round playoff series at the San Diego Sports Arena.

The dominant Sockers, who haven’t played a game they had to win in months, are out to regain what they feel is their title.

“San Diego is the favorite,” Zungul said. “We’re big outsiders in this series, but you can’t quit. We’ll try to compete with San Diego. For sure, we won’t give up.”

Zungul is suffering from a bad cold, a calf-muscle strain and hip tendinitis that has bothered him the past two years. He has missed practices this week and is questionable for tonight’s opener. But Zungul, the all-time leading scorer in MISL history, always seems to end up in the starting lineup.

The Stars definitely will be without forward Peter Ward, their third-leading scorer (39 goals and 24 assists for 63 points). Ward is in England because of a death in his family.

The Sockers will be without players who provided a total of 49 goals and 22 assists: Keder (right knee ligaments) and Zoran Karic (pulled lower abdomen muscle) probably will miss most, if not all, of the playoffs. Hugo Perez, who underwent root canal surgery Wednesday, and Waad Hirmez (left foot contusion) are listed as probable.

Compared with last year, the Sockers are entering the playoffs a lot healthier and more confident.

“The only concerns are with us,” Crow said. “We’re not so concerned with the opposition. If we play the way we should, we’ll win.”

Said McAlister, who is 10-11 since he replaced Hinton: “San Diego is sound everywhere. They really don’t have any weakness. You can’t ever let down against them. They have those two-, three-minute stretches when they can put you away. We have to play 60 minutes.”

And that has been a big problem for the Stars. Their fourth-place finish in good part was because of fourth-quarter collapses.

Through three quarters in five of their seven games, Tacoma either led or tied the Sockers and was outscored by just 23-21. In the fourth quarter, the Sockers outscored the Stars, 18-2. Tacoma’s two goals were scored on a penalty kick by Zungul and a shootout by Preki.

“We lost our composure,” Zungul said. “It wasn’t the physical. It was mental. We’ve had some mental disturbances. It’s easy for us to mentally be destroyed by opponents.”

Said Socker Coach Ron Newman: “Tacoma is notoriously nervous in the fourth quarter. You can come on and start playing against their nerves.”

The Stars also would feel a lot more comfortable with the home-field advantage. They were 21-7 at home, 6-22 on the road. In games in which they trailed after three quarters, they were 0-16 on the road.

But that was during the regular season.

“I believe it will be an even better series than last year,” Socker defender Fernando Clavijo said. “They have so many good players. You know they’ll come through.”

A look at matchups:

OFFENSE

Both can score often and quickly, and both have a lot of players who can score. The Sockers were third in the league with 277 goals, trailing the Comets (295) and Lazers (291). Tacoma was fifth with 259 goals.

The balanced Sockers had 14 players who had points in double figures, and 10 with at least 10 goals. Branko Segota led the club with 56 goals and 33 assists for 89 points, followed by Paul Dougherty (40-24--64).

Star forward Preki was second in the league with 53 goals and 58 assists for 111 points, one behind Wichita’s Erik Rasmussen.

“Zungul is not the one-on-one threat anymore,” Crow said. “Preki is the one-on-one threat now.”

But Zungul, far and away the leading scorer in MISL playoff history, still is dangerous.

“He still demands the respect because of the type of player he can be,” said Socker goalkeeper Jim Gorsek. “He can be dangerous on any given day because he can take the game in his own hands.”

Zungul had 47 goals and 41 assists for 88 points.

But without steady Gray (who signed with St. Louis after last season) and Ingram (who scored 52 last season, but was traded to Dallas this season), the Stars were not nearly as strong in the midfield.

DEFENSE

The Socker defense, led by Crow, Clavijo, Brian Schmetzer and Gus Mokalis, allowed a league-low 189 goals. The next-closest team was Dallas, which allowed 206 goals. Crow led the team in blocked shots with 110, followed by Schmetzer with 59.

The Stars were tops in the MISL with a league-record 781 blocked shots, led by defender Joey Waters and a league-record 153.

But blocked shots can be a deceiving statistic to measure the effectiveness of a defense. After all, the Stars also allowed 285 goals, second-most in the league behind the Comets with 290.

“We can score as much as we want, but it’s not enough,” Zungul said.

GOALKEEPERS

The Sockers became the first team in league history with two 20-game winners. Zoltan Toth was 21-6 and led the league with a record-low 2.94 goals-against average in 28 games. Jim Gorsek was 21-8 with a 3.43 GAA in 29 games. Toth is 3-0 with a 2.75 GAA against Tacoma this season, and Gorsek is 3-1 with a 4.42 GAA. But the statistics don’t tell the entire story where Toth is concerned.

He has a history of being baited and frustrated by the Stars, primarily by Zungul, a longtime friend and opponent. Toth was kicked out of a game against the Stars March 30. But Newman believes that Toth’s past jittery play against the Stars is not a factor that needs to be considered. And Newman has named him as tonight’s starter.

Although the Sockers have two talented and well-rested goalkeepers, the Stars are a one-man show.

Mike Dowler set league records for starts (51), minutes (2,976) shots faced (1,544) and goals allowed (224) this season. He was 26-23 with a 4.51 GAA. Paul Dolan, Dowler’s backup, was 1-5 with a 6.88 GAA in limited play.

The numbers and the revenge factor all seem to add up in the Sockers’ favor, but Newman is still cautious.

“Last year, Tacoma was far and away the best team in the league and we struggled,” Newman said. “Look what happened in the playoffs. We almost beat them. This year, we have to be careful.”

Socker Notes

San Diego Coach Ron Newman was named MISL coach of the year by his peers. It was the first time Newman has won the award in the MISL. He has been named coach of the year in the North American Soccer League indoor and outdoor leagues and in the American Soccer League. With five points awarded for first choice, three for second and one for third, Newman received 36 points. Minnesota Coach Alan Merrick, whose club finished first in the Eastern Division, received 24 votes. . . . Tonight’s game will be broadcast live on XTRA (AM 690) and XEXX (AM 1420). . . . The Sockers drew an average of 8,996 fans for 28 home games this season, down from an average of 9,747 last season.