Defenseless Sockers Handed Their Worst Home Loss, 8-2
It can be lonely at the top, as Sockers’ goalkeeper Victor Nogueira discovered in a 8-2 loss to the Kansas City Comets Friday night at the Sports Arena.
Deserted for much of the evening by the defense that has been so good to him this season, Nogueira was left looking somewhat helpless, not like the Major Indoor Soccer League’s leader in goals-against average.
In the second quarter, the Comets shot and shot and blew the house down with a three-goal barrage that could best be classified as a severe case of Socker neglect.
Two more goals in the third made it 5-0, and three empty-net goals late in the fourth quarter helped the Comets hand the Sockers their worst home defeat ever before 8,068. The previous worst loss at home was by four goals, also to Kansas City, in March 1987.
A performance this bad brought some interesting descriptions.
“Our defense made several diabolical errors,” said Sockers’ Coach Ron Newman, who was denied his 500th career victory.
And from Nogueira: “I think everybody on the team just had a mental deficiency. Hopefully a game like this can bring you back to earth.”
The Sockers (13-11) weren’t exactly flying high before this one, however. They lost in Dallas last Saturday night but had figured to bounce back against the last-place Comets (9-14).
But goalkeeper Alan Mayer, the former Socker, made several key saves to keep the game scoreless through one quarter, and then was left to relax the rest of the way.
David Doyle scored the Comets’ first goal, taking the ball away from Ralph Black and beating Nogueira with a blast from just inside the red line.
Moments later, it was 2-0 when Tony Glavin was left alone in front to bang home a rebound.
Glavin was the coach of the St. Louis Steamers last season. It was first goal in nearly three years. He didn’t have to wait so long for his next one.
Before the end of the half, in fact, Glavin had been left alone again. When Chris Hundelt’s shot was stopped by Nogueira and banked off the boards, Glavin rifled home another rebound to make it 3-0.
It got worse in the third quarter, when Glavin and Greg Ion were both left alone at the doorstep of the Sockers’ goal and actually had to fight over which one would score.
Ion got credit for the goal, and 2 minutes later, Kim Roentved scored again on--what else?--a rebound all alone in front.
“It was just one of those nights,” Nogueira said. “Every rebound went right to them. I didn’t ever have a chance.”
Nogueira, whose 2.44 goals-against average coming into the game had helped land him a spot in his first All-Star game later this month, hadn’t allowed more than four goals in any one game before Friday.
“It’s just embarrassing, mainly,” said Kevin Crow, who accounted for both of the Sockers’ goals in the fourth quarter. “Every once in a while, you’re not going to play well, but there’s no excuse to play this bad.”
Socker Notes
Depending on who you talked to, Zoran Karic--the Sockers’ leading goal scorer with 21--missed Friday’s game against Kansas City with either a bruised right foot or a sore knee. Coach Ron Newman said Karic told him his knee was bothering him, but the official word from trainer Bill Taylor was that Karic had a bruised right foot. Whatever the problem, Karic’s injury is a bit mysterious. He told Newman he hurt his knee during last Friday’s victory at Wichita, but Karic played the next night in Dallas.
