Sockers Rout Sidekicks, Force Game 7
Recall, if you will, two seasons in Socker history: 1984-85 and 1985-86.
Those were the days when Branko Segota scored a total of 212 points, 106 in each. The years of Juli Veee and, for a season and a half, Steve Zungul, at the peak of his career.
That’s about how things looked in the first half of the Sockers’ 7-2 victory in Game Six of the Major Indoor Soccer League semifinals at the San Diego Sports Arena Thursday night. It’s also how things looked in the fourth quarter.
The Sockers and Sidekicks will now play Game 7 here Saturday night at 7:35 to determine who will go to the championship series.
To midfielder Brian Quinn, the emotion of Thursday’s game was reminiscent of last season, when the Sockers won their final seven playoff games to take the MISL championship.
“When we were on the road, there wasn’t as much emotion,” Quinn said. “That’s one of the main ingredients in championship soccer. I don’t think we had it in Dallas.”
The goals on this night were artistic, good enough to be accompanied by classical music rather than the rock-and-roll that circulates through the arena through much of the game. The defense was alert, together.
And Segota and Zungul looked fresh. Zungul looked particularly so while giving the Sockers a 2-0 lead with 14 seconds remaining in the first quarter. He took a pass from Quinn in the air, volleyed to himself and, with his back to the goal and defender Doc Lawson virtually stuck to his jersey, turned and drilled it past goalie Krys Sobieski.
“Beautiful goal,” Segota said. “It’s one of the best goals you’ll see in indoor soccer.”
Zungul said the team was inspired out of necessity.
“We were put on the line, and we had to prove something to ourselves,” he said. “Everybody was very disciplined tonight.”
His first goal fell between first-half goals by defender Kevin Crow and midfielder Waad Hirmez. Crow left defender Bruno Ferretti looking as if he were posing for a photograph; Hirmez capitalized on a rare Sidekick mistake, intercepting a pass from defender Mike Powers intended for Sobieski and punching it in.
After a brief return to the form that cost them the past two games in Dallas, Segota--the Segota of old--took over in the fourth quarter. This is a guy who, hampered by an injured toe and a strained hamstring, was having trouble getting by defenders in Tuesday night’s loss.
But just when some of the 7,664 fans on hand had to be wondering if he had scored his last goal of the season, Segota pasted a left-footed shot that Sobieski wasn’t able to touch. That made it 4-2.
Less than two minutes later, Segota spun by Beto and slipped a shot off Lawson. Hirmez scored again late in the fourth period after Dallas put in a sixth attacker, and Zungul scored again with 13 seconds remaining to wrap the scoring.
“Things haven’t been working for me the last couple of games, playing with the aches and pains” Segota said. “When I scored the first goal, it was unbelievable.”
Though the Sockers looked much like the vintage Sockers during much of the first half, signs of the inconsistencies that have plagued them all season surfaced late in the second quarter and early in the third. Before halftime, Sidekick midfielder Kevin Smith advanced on Socker defender Paul Dougherty, who backed toward the goal. Smith took a shot with Dougherty still retreating; it wasn’t much to look at but served its purpose, skipping past the Sockers’ Victor Nogueira and into the left corner of the goal.
The Sockers’ 3-1 halftime lead was shaved to 3-2 with 9:05 remaining in the third quarter when midfielder Michael King took a pass from Marcio Leite and scored his third goal of the series.
And the Socker offense that had looked so bouncy early suddenly took a bit of a rest. They finished the third quarter with no goals and few “close but not quites.”
“We were very nervous at that time,” Socker Coach Ron Newman said. “It was a poor second goal that we let in. I think Branko’s (first) goal was critical for us.”
And critical for Dallas. The word from Tatu, the Sidekicks’ leading scorer, is that this series is history.
