Zungul’s Shot in Overtime Lifts Sockers

The Major Indoor Soccer League celebrated its 10th anniversary Thursday night, but it was not a night for gifts or giveaways at the Forum.

Neither the Sockers nor the Los Angeles Lazers were in a charitable mood, and the result was a tight game, certainly not the way things used to be.

Steve Zungul scored 6:40 into overtime to give the Sockers a 4-3 victory in front of 5,125 fans, but this one was missing the wide-open style of play on which the league built its reputation years ago.

Also missing for much of the night was the Sockers’ offense, which, after a slow start this season, had been revived by Branko Segota and Zungul in an 8-6 victory over the Kansas City Comets Saturday.

The Sockers were shut out by the Lazers for three quarters before scoring three times in the fourth to send the game into overtime.

On a restart in the extra period, Segota passed to Zungul, who beat Jim Gorsek to give the Sockers (5-7) their second consecutive victory.

“He gave me a perfect pass,” Zungul said. “I think my shot surprised him (Gorsek).”

That the Sockers could beat the Lazers also was surprising. Los Angeles (5-8) had won two meetings this season and 10 of the past 15.

But this was an anniversary night for Zungul, too. And the greatest player the indoor game has had wasn’t about to miss his celebration.

On Dec. 22, 1978, the MISL kicked off its first season. Zungul scored the first four goals of his career to help the New York Arrows beat the Cincinnati Kids, 7-2.

An average of 12 goals were scored in each game that year, and Zungul nearly averaged a hat trick for the season--90 goals in 32 games.

But for a while Thursday, it seemed the Sockers and Lazers would be lucky to score three goals between them.

The game was scoreless at halftime as both Gorsek and the Sockers’ Zoltan Toth were strong in goal the few times they had to be.

“In the early days of the sport, it would have been impossible for it to be tied (and scoreless) at halftime,” Zungul said. “But these days, the goalkeepers have caught up to the scorers.”

In the third quarter, Hector Marinaro and Jim Gabarra scored less than a minute apart to give the Lazers a 2-0 lead.

The Sockers didn’t awaken until the 32-second mark of the fourth, when Kevin Crow scored his sixth goal with help from a screen by Segota.

Crow shot from just inside the red line on the right-side boards and beat Gorsek on the short side. But it’s doubtful Gorsek would have missed it if Segota hadn’t run in the goalkeeper’s path as Crow shot.

The Lazers went ahead, 3-1, with 9 minutes left on Marinaro’s second goal. Waad Hirmez, the former Socker, set it up by streaking the length of the field and drawing a pair of defenders to him before passing to an open Marinaro in front.

Segota brought the Sockers within 3-2 with just over 4 minutes left when he dribbled abound Marinaro and beat Gorsek cleanly with a shot into the top corner.

With 3:13 remaining, the Lazers were whistled for their sixth foul of the fourth quarter, and the Sockers had a power play.

That hasn’t meant much this year; the Sockers (3 for 22 coming in) were last in the league with the man advantage.

Sensing that his team needed a lift, Coach Ron Newman pulled Toth in favor of a sixth attacker. Playing 6-on-4, the Sockers tied it on a goal by Zoran Karic with 2:34 remaining.

That sent the game into overtime, in which neither team had won all season.