Comets Get Off to Good Start : After Three Failures, They Show Sockers They’re Set for Fight
David Doyle, who’s 22 and only a rookie, still has that youthful enthusiasm, and maybe that explains why he could be seen skipping off the field in the San Diego Sports Arena Saturday night, wildly celebrating the Kansas City Comets’ 5-4 victory over the Sockers in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.
The question was, what was the other players’ excuse? This was, after all, only Game 1 of a best-of-seven series.
Well, to the Kansas City Comets, it was a big one.
At the end of a hallway underneath the stands waited jubilant players inside the visitors locker room. And, one by one, the Comet players ran in to join the fun.
Charley Greene, whose effort at midfield during the fourth quarter helped Kansas City rally from a 4-2 deficit for a 5-4 victory over the Sockers in Game 1 of the Major Indoor Soccer League Western Division finals, was yelling loudest.
“Yes, boys!” Greene said. “We’ve got the magic!”
Two players waiting at the door slapped Greene a high-five, or high-ten if you will.
Goalkeeper Alan Mayer, who had stopped the Sockers time after time all night, was next to walk in.
He, too, was greeted, by loud cheers. The helmet he wears while he’s in goal was already off, and Doyle rubbed the stringy hair on Mayer’s head.
“Alan played the best game he has all season,” Comet Coach Dave Clements would say a few minutes later.
The last guy in the locker room, almost as if this were planned, was Barry Wallace, whose goal with 10 seconds remaining snapped a 4-4 tie and made the Sockers losers for the first time in the first game of a playoff series.
“Yeah, I guess you could say this is a big one for us,” forward Jan Goossens said. “We wanted to come in here and show the Sockers that we could play with them.”
There was no champagne, but you can understand the elation.
Three times in the past seven years, this Comet bunch has tried to knock off the Sockers in a playoff series, and three times it has failed.
Last year, Kansas City held a 2-games-to-1 lead in the opening round, but the Sockers won Game 4 in San Diego, 5-2, then knocked out the Comets, 9-5, in Game 5 at Kansas City.
“This isn’t a revenge series for us, it’s just that anything we can do is going to help this franchise,” Goossens said. “We’ve got a bunch of good players, and we’re playing at the top of our game right now.”
In the opening round of the Western Division playoffs, the Comets surprised the Los Angeles Lazers 3 games to none.
The Comets, who led the league in scoring during the regular season, were all of a sudden turning defensive.
“That’s been the key for us,” Clements said. “Guys who are usually leading us on offense like Goossens and Mitchell are coming back to help us defensively. Plus, we’re getting great goaltending right now, and that’s a key in the playoffs.”
Mayer, who starred for two Sockers’ indoor championship teams in 1983 and 1984, was indeed a key factor Saturday night, making 15 saves and keeping Kansas City in the game in the first half (down only 3-2) despite being outshot, 22-6.
“The thing we have to do is make sure we don’t get too high after winning this one,” said Mayer, as somebody else slapped him on the back. “This is only one step, and it’s a seven-game series.”
Clements, as coaches will do, also tried to downplay the victory. But before he spoke to reporters, we went around to each player individually to congratulate them.
“The only recognition you ever get as a team is by what you do on the field,” said Clements, who is in his second year as the Comets coach and won MISL Coach of the Year honors last season.
“This Kansas City franchise has always come up a bit short in the past. Hopefully, we’ll have what it takes this time around.”
SOCKERS VS. COMETS San Diego vs. Kansas City
Western Division Finals
Best-of-Seven Series
Saturday--Kansas City 5, Sockers 4
Wednesday--at San Diego Sports Arena, 7:35 p.m.
Friday--at Kansas City, 6:05 p.m.
May 15--at Kansas City, 4:05 p.m.
May 21--at Kansas City, 6:05 p.m. (if necessary)
May 25--at San Diego Sports Arena, 7:35 p.m. (if necessary)
May 28--at San Diego Sports Arena, 7:35 p.m. (if necessary)
