Sockers Are Feeling Low After Drubbing by Blast

No one could accuse the Sockers of not being in the holiday spirit.

The struggling Sockers gift-wrapped a 4-1 victory for the Baltimore Blast Saturday night in the Civic Arena, again failing to escape sole possession of last place in the Major Indoor Soccer League.

The Sockers’ second consecutive loss also changed Coach Ron Newman’s philosophy of how to deal with the worst start in team history.

Newman is no longer talking about how things will click when Branko Segota returns from a hamstring pull, or how the impotent offense will pick up once Steve Zungul adjusts to his new midfield position.

Instead of dynasties, Newman is talking about survival. And 38 games remain for the 5-time MISL champions.

“About the best we can hope for at this point is to find a playoff spot,” Newman said. “And even getting into the playoffs might be hard.”

Especially if the Sockers (3-7) don’t display a tighter defense than the one that allowed the first-place Blast (8-1) to score 3 first-period goals, all but demoralizing a team that was leg weary after losing in Wichita Friday night.

Baltimore, which has outscored opponents, 20-5, in the first period, continued that trend by exploiting some sloppy defense to make it 3-0 at the end of the opening period.

The scores were carbon copies. Blast forwards were left unattended in the penalty area and had little trouble beating Socker goalkeeper Victor Nogueira, who finished with 14 saves.

Just 28 seconds into the game, Tim Wittman played give-and-go out of the corner with teammate Mike Sweeney. When three Sockers collapsed to defend him, Sweeney returned a pass to Wittman, who was standing unmarked in front of the crease and easily slid a shot under a diving Nogueira.

Domenic Mobilio’s seventh goal of the season made it 2-0 5:45 into the game. When the Sockers sagged into the corner to defend against playmaker Kai Haaskivi, Haaskivi found Mobilio open in the crease with a crossing pass, and Mobilio scored on a sweeping right-footed shot.

The Sockers retreated into a zone for the remainder of the opening quarter, and that strategy worked until Wittman scored his second goal with 1:42 left in the period.

Wittman, who has scored a goal in each of the Blast’s 9 games, snuck between four defenders in the middle of the penalty area and redirected Sweeney’s diagonal pass from the left wing. The goal was Wittman’s 13th and moved him past Dallas’ Tatu for the league lead.

“It’s exactly the sort of thing we expected from Baltimore, but we couldn’t do anything to stop it,” said Socker midfielder Paul Dougherty, who was on the field for two of the goals.

“We didn’t adjust ourselves to their style. Physically and mentally, we weren’t together.”

Once the first period was over, the Sockers were able to slow the pace. Both teams finished with 22 shots on goal, the Sockers managing a 19-13 edge after the decisive opening period.

Cacho’s second goal of the season, 7:27 into the third period, finally got the Sockers on the scoreboard. Cacho made a run through the penalty area from the left wing and nailed Zoran Karic’s feed from along the boards on the right side.

But that was the total of the Sockers’ offense. Nogueira kept them close, making 7 saves in the second half. Nogueira foiled David Byrne on a breakaway midway through the third period and stopped a penalty kick attempt by Wittman after Karic was whistled for tripping on a breakaway with 2:42 left.

Wittman’s line-drive penalty kick glanced off Nogueira’s left shoulder and then his face as the Sockers remained within two goals. But when Newman pulled Nogueira in favor of sixth attacker Kevin Crow, Baltimore’s Freddie Thompson scored his first goal of the season, into an empty net, with 56 seconds left.

Newman moved Crow from defense to midfield in the second half to in an attempt to stabilize the Sockers’ attack. Without Segota, and with Zungul troubled by an arthritic hip and learning a new position, the Sockers hardly made Blast goalkeeper Scott Manning work for his 10 saves.

“We were a little more aware of what we had to do (in the second half),” Newman said. “We needed more ball quickness and more individual quickness.”

Zungul played sparingly in the first half and didn’t have a legitimate chance inside the red line until the second half. He was held to only 3 shots by a superb marking effort by Blast defender Bruce Savage.