Segota’s Best Shot Is Enough for Sockers
It figures. Who else?
Somewhere it must be written that Branko Segota is the pilot of the Sockers. This team flies when his right foot says it’s time.
That happened Saturday night at the San Diego Sports Arena. There were 49 seconds remaining in the third quarter of the Game 7 of the Major Indoor Soccer League semifinal series with the Dallas Sidekicks.
Nerves were fraying. The game was scoreless. The Sockers were on the power play.
Socker defender Kevin Crow, situated just outside the red line, passed right to Segota. Segota trapped and shot. Dallas Sidekick goalie Joe Papaleo looked as if he didn’t know what hit him. The ball wound up in the top of the left corner. The crowd of 11,604 roared its approval, and the Sockers went on to a 1-0 victory, completing a comeback from a three-games-to-two playoff deficit for the third time in their history.
No one enjoyed it more than Segota.
“That’s me,” Segota said. “It’s Steve (Zungul) and players like that. We thrive on those things.”
Segota was actually in a little bit of pain. He said he “tweaked” his hamstring again just before scoring. Socker Coach Ron Newman was wondering if he might have to sit him down.
“Just when we were thinking ‘Can he keep going?’ he goes and scores,” Newman said.
Fortunately for the Sockers, that was all that was needed. Because the score stayed put, the Sockers earned a berth against the winner of the Wichita-Baltimore series, which the Blast leads, three games to one.
Scoring game-winning goals in the playoffs isn’t new territory for Segota. He has done it five times previously as a Socker.
But this one, coming at the conclusion of a series of frustration for the veteran midfielder, may have been extra special. Segota has endured nagging injuries, including a hamstring pull and toe injury. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter of Thursday’s 7-2 victory that he truly came to life, scoring two critical goals to put the Sockers over the top.
After his goal, there wasn’t a second to blink or relax. Dallas, putting its sixth attacker in with 2:47 remaining, kept pressure on Socker goalie Victor Nogueira until the final seconds. Nogueira kept making diving saves. Defender Kevin Crow kept blocking. And with each, the crowd got a little louder.
“I think our fans realize now that we’re for real,” midfielder Waad Hirmez said. “They had faith that we were going to come back.”
This was the lowest scoring playoff game in MISL history. It was the fourth shutout by the Sockers in the playoffs; there have been five in MISL history.
For the Sockers, it was maybe the first real indication of championship potential.
“We kind of got our act together so to speak,” Crow said. “I think it was a typical ending. It’s the way it should have ended. It took every little bit of energy out of the San Diego Sockers to beat them.”
Socker defender George Fernandez was the bulk of the show during the first half, first with words, then with actions.
Late in the first quarter, Fernandez and Sidekick midfielder Michael King went nose to nose during an argument, a la Billy Martin and any umpire of his choice. The exchange followed a Fernandez foul.
Papaleo had a few words with the referee directly afterward and joined Fernandez and King in two-minute misconduct penalties.
With no goals to applaud, the crowd took to its feet with 24 seconds remaining in the second quarter when Fernandez came scampering across the carpet to make a slide tackle on Beto, who was approaching the goal with a chance to shoot.
The Sockers’ biggest scoring opportunity of the first half was foiled nicely by Papaleo, who charged out of the goal on a breakaway by Paul Wright and caused him to miss wide left.
Having been in a few of these tight playoff games before didn’t make this one any easier on Newman’s nerves. He looked like a man in need of a good night’s sleep as he met with reporters after the game.
“I don’t know why we do this,” he said. “I’m supposed to be used to it. How’s my pension? Has anyone checked my pension?”
Socker Notes
Negotiation of Ron Newman’s contract renewal will not take place until after the playoffs, according to Socker President Ron Cady. Newman, Cady said, is the only coach being considered. “Our focus (now) is on the playoffs,” he said. . . . The only other game in this semifinal series tied, 0-0, at halftime was Game 5 in Dallas, which the Sockers lost, 4-1. . . . Victor Nogueira set a team record in Thursday’s game, becoming the first Socker goalie to have two assists in a playoff game.
