Sockers Wonder Where Punch Is

So these are the new Sockers?

Maybe they should bring back the old ones.

When Ron Fowler, the team’s owner, and Ron Cady, its president, decided this summer to separate this year’s Socker records from those of years past, it’s doubtful they thought it would be like this.

Through 10 games, there have been only 27 Socker goals to keep a record of. No team in the Major Indoor Soccer League has scored fewer.

Game 11 is tonight, when the Sockers play host to Kansas City at 7:35. But before the next 10, some examples of why this is no way to start a record book:

--In 21 power-play opportunities, the Sockers have scored twice. That’s an average of .095. In 11 power-play opportunities at home, the Sockers are batting .000. In other words, the next time an opposing player is ordered off the field for 2 minutes by an official, don’t hold your breath waiting for a Socker goal.

--Steve Zungul and Branko Segota, the No. 1 and 2 scorers in MISL history, have combined for 1 goal and 0 assists. Zungul, who joined the Sockers four games ago, scored on a free kick from the top of the penalty box two Saturdays ago against Wichita. That’s the last time the Sockers won. The last time Segota played was Nov. 5, when he injured a hamstring in the season opener.

Each week, it seems, Segota says he’ll back soon. But the weeks keep going by.

--The Sockers have yet to score three goals in a quarter, and they’ve scored two goals in a quarter only six times. Over 40 quarters, that’s a .150 average.

And then there’s the bottom line:

The Sockers have hit rock bottom. In 10 games, a 3-7 record. The Sockers are last in the MISL.

And, now, rumors are flying that Coach Ron Newman might soon be relieved. Cady and Newman both deny that chatter, with Cady saying that the team’s start is not Newman’s fault.

Then what is?

One theory not dismissed lightly is that the Sockers have just been plain unlucky.

Newman has used that word in almost every post-loss press conference; even he has noted that it is sounding a bit hollow. But maybe the argument has merit. The Sockers, after all, have lost all three overtime games in which they’ve played this season, and they’re 1-4 in games decided by a goal.

Turn that around and make it 4-1, and the Sockers would be sitting pretty at 6-4 now.

“We’ve been in every game we’ve played except the last one (a 4-1 loss at Baltimore last Saturday),” midfielder Brian Quinn said. “If we were getting blown out, it would be a different story. But we know we’re close. We just have to keep plugging along.”

Newman agreed: “It seems in these close games, we’ll have so many chances to score, but the ball won’t go in. Then the other team will come down the other way, shoot once, and it will go in. You would think that has to turn in our favor soon.”

Maybe it will. But until it does, there are other problems that need to be solved.

First and foremost is that Newman has to decide on a set lineup sometime soon. Too many times this season, the Sockers have appeared unorganized, especially in the offensive end.

True enough, one reason for the disorganization is that the Sockers have several new players.

“It takes more time to work new players into an offense than it does to work them into a defense,” Socker defender Kevin Crow said.

But it would help if all of them knew what positions they were playing. Zungul has said after every game that he would be better suited to playing forward than midfield, and other players have made similar statements. Poli Garcia also has played forward and midfield. Crow has played some midfield along with defender.

Newman said he has needed at least the first 10 games to see what everybody could do.

“With so many new players, you have to try this and that,” Newman said. “Starting (tonight) you’ll see a more regular shift for all of the players.”

Added Quinn: “In the past, the players all knew their roles. We need to get this year’s players to know their roles, too. Once that happens, everything can fall into place.”

Actually, there’s no guarantee. Because, in the right spot or not, the Sockers just don’t seem to have anybody who can score right now.

Gone are the great 1-on-1 players of the past, such as Hugo Perez, Juli Veee and Kaz Deyna. And it obviously hasn’t helped that Segota isn’t playing.

“When you don’t have any 1-on-1 players, your offense is limited,” Crow said.

In a way, the Sockers are like a baseball team without home-run hitters. They have to manufacture goals.

“When the game is tied, we don’t have that one player who says, ‘Give me the ball, I’m going to score,’ ” Quinn said. “In the old days, we had that. So when the game was close, we knew we were going to win.”

Maybe in the next few weeks, things will begin to change. Garcia, who scored 50 goals last season in St. Louis, has scored just one so far. Paul Dougherty, who scored 40 goals with the Sockers last season, has two. Segota, if he starts playing, and Zungul are bound to put some numbers on the board soon. At least that’s what the Sockers have to count on.

“We need somebody to get hot,” Newman said. “We need somebody, who every time they shoot the ball, it goes in. Right now, every time the ball is laying there, we seem to be 6 inches on the wrong side of it.”

Said Quinn: “It needs to turn around soon. Losing, just like anything else, can become a habit. We’ve got stop thinking about losing. And the only way we can do that is to start winning.”