Sidekicks Bushwhack Sockers for 4-3 Overtime Victory

First their flight was delayed. Then they couldn’t find the team bus.

And it only got worse for the Sockers Saturday, finally bottoming out with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Dallas Sidekicks before 10,991 fans at Reunion Arena.

Despite the earlier problems, the Sockers lost a game they shouldn’t have. They rolled into Dallas as the hottest team in the Major Indoor Soccer League, with a 5-game winning streak. At the other end of the spectrum were the Sidekicks, with a 4-game losing streak and playing without injured regulars Tatu, Richard Chinapoo and Wes McLeod.

“Everything went wrong tonight,” said Socker Coach Ron Newman, who failed in his first attempt to earn career victory No. 500. “Dallas played way above its heads. They were flying high. We expected the same team as usual from them but they were very aggressive.”

Playing three rookies extensively and down to just 10 field players in the second half, the Sidekicks forced overtime and then won on Doc Lawson’s first goal of the season 2:06 into the extra period. Lawson, who added two assists, rebounded Marcio Leite’s miss off the right boards and nailed a left-footer that goalie Victor Nogueira slowed but couldn’t stop.

“I thought he only had a strong right foot, and then he knocks me over with the left,” said Nogueira, who was brilliant otherwise in making 15 saves. “I guess his shot kind of caught me by surprise, but it was that type of game.”

The Sockers, who fell into a second-place tie with Dallas at 13-10, built a 3-1 lead late in the second quarter only to have the more aggressive and physical Sidekicks shut them out the final 36:54.

The Sockers lost to Dallas for only the fourth time in 18 meetings.

“I think we relaxed once we got the 2-goal lead,” said Branko Segota, who had a goal and an assist to increase his 2-point scoring streak to six games. “Without Tatu and those other guys, I think we took them a little lightly. A lot of us didn’t respect Dallas before tonight.”

The Sockers’ Rene Ortiz had an ideal chance to win the game in regulation, but goalie Krys Sobieski stopped his shot from 10 feet with 8 seconds remaining.

Dallas earned a 3-3 tie when Kevin Smith scored as time ended in the third quarter. Smith took Lawson’s long shot in the box and hit the crossbar with his initial attempt. But on the rebound, he bounced a left-footed volley in the right corner.

The Sockers led, 3-2, at halftime after taking a 3-1 lead on second-quarter goals by Gus Mokalis and Segota. Mokalis nailed a running 40-footer from Steve Zungul’s assist, followed by Segota’s diving header from Alan Willey’s pass off the goal boards with 4:48 remaining in the half.

Then the craziness started, when a game-long battle between Dallas rookie Jorge Acosta and Socker midfielder Brian Quinn turned into a war.

After Quinn was called for tripping Acosta, Acosta head-butted Quinn in the face as he attempted to get up. Acosta was ejected for violent conduct. After a 5-minute discussion and warning by referee Esse Baharmast for rough play, the teams played 4-on-4 for 2 minutes before the Sockers had a 3-minute power play.

But it was Dallas that took immediate advantage when Karpun scored his second goal on an assist from Lawson with 1:06 remaining in the half.

The Sockers took a 1-0 lead when Quinn scored off Segota’s corner-kick assist 5:32 into the game. Dallas tied the score on Karpun’s power-play goal with 1:18 remaining in the first quarter. After taking a blind, bicycle-kick pass from Beto across the penalty-box, Karpun knocked in a header on the goal line.

Socker Notes

Goalie Zolton Toth missed his third consecutive game with bunions on both feet. . . . The Sockers were outshot, 31-19, for the only the fifth time this season. . . . San Diego’s three-game road winning streak was snapped. . . . Victor Nogueira gave up more than 3 goals for the first time in five games.