SOCKER NOTEBOOK : A Defensive Future in Cogsville; A Happy Camper in Segota

Introducing Donald Cogsville, the kid from Joisey. The first No. 1 draft choice the Sockers have signed.

How does he like being transplanted from New Jersey to Southern California?

“It’s a major difference,” he says. “Just the attitude of the people. I don’t think I’ve seen a bad day in San Diego.”

Notice he didn’t say dude.

Cogsville, 24, will tell you that he probably wouldn’t be playing in the Major Indoor Soccer League had he not been selected by the Sockers.

Cogsville likes winners, probably because he is a winner. He came to the Sockers after a four-year stop at University of North Carolina, where he led the Tar Heels in 1987 to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and the NCAA semifinals.

Cogsville signed a one-year contract Thursday, but the thing is, he doesn’t really fill a need as a defender because the Sockers already have Kevin Crow, the league’s best; rough and rugged Ralph Black; and George Fernandez, who played in every game last season.

So what is Cogsville’s purpose?

“An investment in the future,” Socker President Ron Cady says. “Donald has just shown so much. We’re really happy.”

Cogsville will almost certainly play sparingly this season, but Socker Coach Ron Newman sees a lot to work with.

“He’s a great athlete,” Newman says. “He does the 12-minute run in 10 minutes. That’s a joke.”

Hah, hah.

Midfielder Branko Segota is taking a short vacation. And it’s not because he’s not used to the rigors of training camp, though he isn’t. Before this season, Segota hadn’t seen the light of an entire preseason training session in more than three years for a variety of reasons, including contract disputes.

But this week, after Segota has huffed and puffed through every practice since Day 1, he received permission from Socker Coach Ron Newman to skip a few days and fly to Yugoslavia, where he will meet his girlfriend and bring her to San Diego.

Maybe this explains Segota’s attitude this season, which is more upbeat than in years past. Dare we say happy-go-lucky?

“He’s more chummy,” Newman said. “He’s not cynical. He’s enjoying his soccer.”

Segota was slowed through much of last season by a recurring hamstring injury. For the first time this year, Segota didn’t participate in outdoor soccer, which has advantages and disadvantages.

“He may not be as fast as he would normally be after an outdoor season,” Newman said, “but he doesn’t have any aches and pains.”

His early arrival has been welcomed by teammates.

“I think his being here so early has really encouraged us,” Fernandez said. “Everybody is excited to play. He seems excited, too. This year he seems really motivated, and he seems fresh. He’s like a little kid.”

The goalie with the pet hermit crab, Otto Orf II, backup to Socker starter Victor Nogueira last season, has been signed by the Cleveland Crunch and is already creating a stir with his right arm. In fact, he almost cost the Sockers a preseason victory.

The situation was this: Twenty-five seconds remained in the Oct. 7 exhibition with the Crunch. Tie score, 4-4. The Sockers were on the power play, but Newman decided to turn it into the super power play by pulling the goalie in favor of a sixth attacker. As the seconds whittled away, a shot was taken by the Sockers. Orf grabbed the ball, wound up and sent it on one hop across the playing surface--the biggest in the league--and smack into the center of the goal.

The Crunch wins?

Uh, hold the phone. Kyle Whittemore, the Sockers’ rookie forward from San Diego State, was whistled for a dangerous play in front of Cleveland’s goal. So Orf’s offering didn’t count, and the Sockers wound up with a 5-4 overtime victory.

“They signed (Orf) as a second goalie,” Newman said. “But I thought he looked No. 1.”

On the subject of goalies, the Sockers are well-stocked. Last year, Nogueira was hoping to get a dash of playing time backing up Zoltan Toth, the incumbent starter and the MISL’s goalie of the year in 1988. Now, after Toth missed most of last season after bunion surgery and Nogueira stepped in to earn his own goalie of the year award, Toth is trying to win his job back.

Both have been impressive in preseason, and the pair will probably trade off this season, giving the Sockers the strongest goal-keeping combination in the league.

The MISL owners committee is considering implementing a rule that would allow teams to substitute goalies “on the fly,” meaning a goalie could run off the field at one end while a front-line player runs on at the other to join the attack. Newman, who is a master at using every strange rule to the fullest, is undoubtedly licking his chops.