Hirmez Is Glad to Be Getting His Chances

There were a few times Thursday night, a few too many for some fans, when the Sockers’ Waad Hirmez grabbed his head in disgust, bent over in anguish and cursed himself for missing easy goal-scoring chances.

After putting two in the net and helping send the Sockers on their way to a 6-2 victory over the Tacoma Stars in Game 1 of the Western Division semifinals at the Sports Arena, Hirmez several times seemed a shoo-in for a hat trick.

But he missed two open nets, and a couple of other chances slipped wide. The fans actually began to grow impatient.

But these are good days for Waad Hirmez. And something as inconsequential as missing a couple of easy scoring chances isn’t going to get him down.

Thinking back to the beginning of this season, in fact, Hirmez is just happy to be getting the chances.

After the Sockers’ seventh game in late November, a 12-2 victory over Wichita, Hirmez had only two goals and an assist for the season. And he knew it.

He sat in front of his locker one night and mentioned it. He was playing defense, and defensemen don’t get the ball much.

Hirmez, who grew up in San Diego and played at Point Loma High School, always had gotten the ball. No ball, no glory.

The result was impatience. Hirmez started forcing, and his teammates began to get upset.

“They thought he was hotdogging too much,” Ron Newman, the Socker coach, said. “They got down on him, and he got down, too.”

Hirmez asked to be traded. Newman asked him to tough it out. Newman won, and Hirmez stayed.

About two weeks later, Hirmez and the Sockers began receiving dividends. Hirmez moved to midfield and began scoring; he put together a 24-game scoring streak from late December to early March.

He finished the regular season with 30 goals and 23 assists for 53 points, third-highest on the team.

“It was tough early, but everything worked out,” Hirmez said.

Thursday, he took the team lead in playoff scoring.

Five minutes into the game, Hirmez ran behind Branko Segota, who was busy drawing two Tacoma defenders to the middle of the field.

“Branko,” Hirmez yelled. Segota passed it with the back of his heel.

Hirmez fired with his left foot, a risky move, considering he had injured the same foot two weeks ago and missed three of the last four regular-season games.

“The foot felt fine,” he said. The ball went into the far corner of the net for a 2-0 Socker lead.

Two minutes later, Hirmez scored again, this time with his right foot. A big right foot.

He collected the ball just inside the Tacoma red line and fired a rising shot.

“As hard of a shot as you’ll ever see,” Newman said.

Tacoma goalkeeper Mike Dowler didn’t see it until it was too late. The ball was in before anyone could react. It was 3-0. Later, Hirmez set up a Juli Veee goal by dribbling through two defenders.

Two goals and an assist. The same numbers it took him seven regular season games to attain.

Afterward, Hirmez rubbed some confetti out of his hair and smiled.

“I’m glad I’m here,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll be staying awhile.”