Blast Five for Five Against Sockers : Crow Scores Tying Goal Late in Fourth, but Baltimore Gets Winner 10 Seconds Later

On top of everything else Friday night at the Sports Arena, Ron Newman couldn’t even get into the interview room. The door was locked.

So the Socker coach had to wait a few extra seconds to talk about his team’s continuing problems against the first-place Baltimore Blast (23-11), which defeated them, 3-2, in front of 10,648.

The loss leaves the Sockers 5 1/2 games out of first place in the Major Indoor Soccer League. They are five for five this season. Five Baltimore victories. Five Socker losses.

Late in the game, Newman had been thinking about ways the Sockers (18-17) might let this one slip away.

“I was worried more about what was going to happen in overtime,” he said, “and we don’t even get there. It’s horrible to lose like that.”

The reason? An unspectacular shot by Baltimore’s Mark Mettrick, off a pass from Carl Valentine, that hit three defenders before bouncing into the left corner of the goal with 52 seconds remaining. Newman termed it a “bloody, squirrely goal.”

Ten seconds earlier, Kevin Crow gave the Sockers what they had been waiting for since the first quarter. A plain goal.

His equalizer came off a pass from Branko Segota, but Crow credited forward Steve Zungul.

“He was smart enough to let it go through his legs,” Crow said.

But before the Sockers could wipe the smiles off their faces, Mettrick was holding up his hands in triumph after his accomplishment at the other end of the carpet.

“It’s ridiculous that they score the winning goal on that,” Newman said. “They’re a good side. We can’t let them off.”

All evening, the Sockers pounded shots at Blast goalie Scott Manning. All evening, he deflected them. He was humble about it, crediting his defense.

“We’ve got to thank the goal posts,” he said. “I think (shots) hit it about five times.

Zoran Karic and Crow took one-two punches from both sides of the Blast goal in the fourth quarter, but Manning was ready and waiting.

Then Zungul took his shots. Twice. On the first, Manning dived flat in the air to his right to tip the ball away. On the second, Manning slipped in the penalty box, but Zungul pushed the ball wide right.

“He’s scored more goals on me than I care to remember,” Manning said. “After (the first save), I told Steve, ‘We’ve been in the league a long time. At least let me make one save.’ ”

Unfortunately for the Sockers, he made a few more than that. The offense was dry during the second and third quarters, aided by a Blast defense that ranks second to the Sockers in the MISL in goals allowed.

Blast forward Domenic Mobilio put the finishing touches on a hard crossing pass from Kai Haaskivi to give Baltimore a 2-1 lead with 7:35 remaining in the third quarter.

Socker forward Paul Wright had stirred the crowd momentarily early in the third when he blazed down the left sideline on a breakaway. But his shot bounced just off the wall left of the Blast goal.

After the Sockers took the early lead, Baltimore tied it, 1-1, when Haaskivi punched in a shot from a few feet in front of the goal with 3:23 remaining the second quarter. Socker goalie Victor Nogueira came out to his right to stop Haaskivi’s approach, but the ball skipped by him. Socker defender Gus Mokalis stopped the ball before it crossed the goal-line but Haaskivi was there to follow the deflection.

In the first quarter, Nogueira and Manning took turns knocking down close-range shots. Segota was foiled twice, once from about 20 yards out and again on a header in the middle of the penalty box.

Ralph Black had the only early success against Manning, who has been selected the defensive player of the game in each of the team’s four previous meetings this season. Segota passed left on a restart kick from the top of the penalty arch, and Black slipped a shot into the left corner of the goal past a diving Manning to give the Sockers a 1-0 lead with just 21 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Socker Notes

Socker midfielder Brian Quinn (strained left arch) was held out of Friday’s game but could be available for tonight’s game with Wichita. Cacho, who has been recovering from a hamstring injury, was not scheduled to play but entered the game in the third period. . . . Tonight’s game will make two weeks in a row the Sockers have back-to-back games scheduled. Last week, they dropped a pair on the road, losing to Kansas City and Baltimore. Entering Friday night’s game, the Sockers had won just five of 18 back-to-back games. . . . The Sockers have only 17 roster members and need to pick up another player by March 16, according to MISL rules, or they will not be allowed to. . . . Socker midfielder Waad Hirmez had a goal added to his total when it was decided he should be credited with Alan Willey’s goal in a Feb. 24 game against the Dallas Sidekicks.