Stand-In Sparks Sockers

The Sockers, who have been accused many times this season of not having an offense, found themselves without a last line of defense Saturday night against the Wichita Wings. But as one might expect in this crazy season, that only meant a change of recent fortunes.

Zoltan Toth, the only goalkeeper Coach Ron Newman dressed for the game, was injured just before halftime, and the Sockers had to play the rest of the way with defender Ralf Wilhelms in goal.

But that only seemed to provide a missing spark for the Sockers, who held Wichita to just 9 shots in the second half--only 4 needed to be saved--and snapped a three-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory in front of 8,752 fans.

There were many heroes in this one, from Steve Zungul, who scored his first goal of the season, to Brian Quinn, whose two fourth-period goals snapped a 2-2 tie.

But there in the locker room sitting at Toth’s locker was Wilhelms, the night’s biggest star, whose only contribution so far this season before Saturday consisted of some spot work on defense and 2 shots on goal.

7 “Things are definitely strange sometimes,” Newman said. “I hardly ever dress only one goalkeeper (Saturday was the second time this season) and Zollie gets hurt. I thought, ‘Gee, everything I’m doing lately isn’t working.’ ”

Toth was injured late in the second quarter during a scramble in front of the Sockers’ goal. He lay on the ground for a few minutes before returning to the bench with an icepack on his right eye. X-rays taken later at Scripps Hospital showed no fracture.

After Toth went down, Wilhelms was protected like a newborn baby by the Sockers’ defense, which limited Wichita to only 3 serious goal-scoring chances in the second half.

Eric Rasmussen scored on Wichita’s first shot at Wilhelms in the third quarter to give the Wings a 2-1 lead.

But then Wilhelms, who hadn’t played goalie since he was 13 years old (“And that was outdoors in Germany,” he said.) kept the Wings scoreless.

Late in the third quarter, Zungul fired a shot from the top of the box on a restart to tie it at 2-2.

Zungul played much better Saturday than he did in his first game back last Sunday against Tacoma.

“I felt better, and we got some good chances,” Zungul said.

Lately, though, good chances have only led to frustrating results for the Sockers.

So, in the fourth quarter, it took a couple of not-so great chances for Quinn to put the Sockers ahead.

At the 1:45 mark, Quinn took a carefree shot from the top of the box and lucked out when the ball bounced off defender Mike Stankovic and changed directions on its way to the Wichita goal.

Wings goalkeeper Cris Vaccaro was moving the wrong way when the ball arrived, and the Sockers had a 3-2 lead.

With just over 4 minutes left, Stankovic was on as a 6th attacker and passed unwisely across his own crease. Quinn stepped in front of the pass and scored into an empty net to give the Sockers a 4-2 lead.

The Sockers took a 1-0 lead in the first quarter when defender Kevin Crow continued his surprising offense and scored his fourth goal on a rebound.

Crow, has never scored more than 10 goals in a season but now scored almost half that many in the Sockers’ first eight games.

Zungul, making his first appearance at the 6:15 mark, started the play with a pass to Zoran Karic at the left of the Wichita goal.

Karic dribbled a shot on goal that Vaccaro got his left leg on. Crow, who was standing unmarked at the right post, tapped the ball into an open net.

Wichita tied the game early in the second quarter when Paul Dougherty left Jean Willrich alone at the top of the box. Willrich, the former Socker, beat Toth with a drive into the right corner of the goal.

Terry Rowe set up the score by dribbling around Cacho and drawing Dougherty away from Willrich. Rowe then tapped a pass to Willrich, who scored his first goal of the season.

Wilhelms replaced Toth with 2:26 left in the half, and the Sockers held Wichita without a shot until the intermission to keep it tied at 1-1.

Socker Notes

The Sockers are having trouble getting untracked early in the season, but it’s nothing new. In 1981-82, the Sockers started 2-7 but rebounded to win the North American Soccer League indoor championship. In 1982-83, their first year in the MISL, the Sockers started 1-5 but won the title. Five times this decade, the Sockers have been .500 or worse after 10 games. In four of those years, they have won indoor championships. . . . The Sockers’ power play is just 1 for 19 so far this season, worst in the league. The only power-play goal was scored by Rene Ortiz in Kansas City Nov. 23. The Sockers are 0-10 at home on the power play. . . . Defender Gary Etherington, picked up by the Sockers from the defunct Minnesota Strikers this summer, played in his first game Saturday. Etherington underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Oct. 19. . . . Brian Quinn, who led the Sockers in scoring in November with 8 points (3 goals, 5 assists) was named the Sockers’ player of the month by the media. . . . Former Socker goalkeeper Jim Gorsek led the MISL with a 2.79 goals-against average going into Saturday. But Gorsek and the Los Angeles Lazers were beaten by first-place Baltimore, 6-2, Saturday afternoon.