Karic Leads Sockers’ Victory as Stars Go Down Fighting

There was shoving. There was fighting. There were yellow cards and there were red cards.

And there was Zoran Karic.

Karic scored a three-goal hat trick within 3 minutes 47 seconds of the third quarter to boost the Sockers to a 4-2 victory over Tacoma Sunday at the Sports Arena in the regular-season finale.

The Sockers (27-21) will play host to Dallas in the first round of the Major Indoor Soccer League playoffs, which will likely begin May 3 pending a MISL decision this week.

Things started innocently enough, with Joe Waters and Bernie James scoring first-half goals to give the Stars a 2-0 advantage early in the second quarter.

Tempers warmed soon after. Socker midfielder Brian Quinn and Tacoma forward Preki fired words and a few pushes at each other with just more than 11 minutes remaining in the second quarter. Then, Karic and James had a similar exchange, both receiving two-minute penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct.

In the third quarter, in between Karic’s first and second goals, Preki was assessed a tripping penalty and thus given a mandatory two-minute rest on the bench. Preki heard about it for the remainder of the game from the 10,710 fans, who booed every time he touched the ball.

Clutching a 3-2 lead, the Sockers held on in the final 2:35 when Tacoma (23-25) went to six attackers. Socker defender Ralph Black sealed the game with 48 seconds remaining, chipping a shot from beyond the midfield into an open goal.

End of game. Beginning of brawl.

With less than 10 seconds left, Socker midfielder Waad Hirmez said he noticed a player flying in his direction out of the corner of his eye. Turned out to be Rick Blubaugh, who Hirmez said had his sights set on smashing him into the boards with a slide tackle. Hirmez avoided it, and seconds later was in the grasp of James, who had his hands around Hirmez’s neck. The benches cleared.

When the two players were separated, the referees decided that both Hirmez and James should be ejected. Hirmez wasn’t too thrilled.

“I don’t think I should have been ejected because it was self-defense,” Hirmez said. “There was no reason for him to grab me by the neck. I really feel bad about it. I’ve never had a red card in the past.”

Socker Coach Ron Newman was surprised the fight involved James, who he said is usually a good, hard-nosed player.

“Don’t miss the last two seconds in our game,” said Newman, with a smile. “You never know what is going to happen.”

Not overlooked by Newman in the commotion of the final seconds was the performance of Otto Orf, the Sockers’ newly signed goalie. Making his second start and third appearance as Victor Nogueira’s backup, Orf held his own in the heat of the final minutes.

“He showed what he could do under pressure and there was a bit of pressure there at the end,” Newman said. “I was very pleased with his performance. Now everybody feels good about him.”

Socker defender Kevin Crow supported that idea.

“We’re very confident with him,” Crow said. “He’s very calm and cool. He doesn’t give you any inclination that he’s nervous.”

And, said Crow, he’s perfect for the Sockers.

“He fits right in,” Crow said. “He’s crazy like the rest of us.”

Crazy, but maybe not quite as calm as he appeared.

“I’m not going to lie,” Orf said. “I definitely was nervous. But with the defenders we have, all I had to do was stay in the goal and bat a couple of shots away.”

Crow helped. He set two team records, one for blocks in a single game (10) and another for blocks in a season (114).

And on the other end of the carpet, Karic did his part. His hat trick was the second fastest in Sockers’ history. Juli Veee scored three goals in a 50-second span against Dallas in 1981.

A look at the goals:

--Karic delayed for a second and tapped a soft shot through Preki’s legs with 13:32 remaining in the third quarter.

--Just 1:11 later, Karic drilled in a left-footed shot from close range on a power play to tie the score, 2-2.

--Finally, Karic sent a right-footed shot from the left side of the Tacoma goal that was deflected by goalie Mike Dowler and wound up in the right corner of the net.