Gabarra Revives Sockers in Overtime
Relief finally came for the Sockers, in most unlikely fashion.
Jim Gabarra, an accomplished outdoor player, made his first big splash under the roof, scoring on a volley 9:08 into overtime to give the Sockers a 5-4 victory over the Cleveland Crunch Saturday at the Richfield Coliseum.
Pop, pop, fizz, fizz. Oh, what a bloody relief it is.
“I think I just won the bloody seventh game in the championship series,” said Socker Coach Ron Newman, whose team snapped a four-game losing streak to improve to 11-14. “We got the monkey off our backs. That does so much good for us.”
Gabarra hasn’t been a big factor yet this season. A midfielder on the U.S. national team, who played five of eight games as it qualified for the World Cup, Gabarra has only two goals in the Major Indoor Soccer League this season. Newman wasn’t even sure anybody would remember how to spell his name, so he helped:
“That’s one B,” he said, “and two Rs.”
One B, two Rs and a much needed V, as in victory. After the Sockers’ 5-4 loss to Wichita Friday, the season was flashing before their eyes. And to make matters worse, they were playing without leading scorer Branko Segota and had only a few hours sleep before a 6:30 a.m. flight to Cleveland for their fourth meeting with the Crunch (11-15), who were well rested after an eight-day layoff.
Newman mixed the lineup, using players such as Gabarra and rookie Donald Cogsville, who had more spring in their legs because of limited playing time. Cogsville nearly scored in the third quarter, missing off the left post. And Gabarra scored just before the Sockers headed for the tank: the oxygen tank.
As overtime wore on, the game became a series of counter-attacks, each team racing up and down the carpet, spraying shots off the boards. Gabarra’s goal was typical. A shot by forward Zoran Karic bounced off the boards to the left of goalie P.J. Johns. Midfielder Jacques Ladouceur dug it out of a scramble near the corner and sent it in the air toward Gabarra, who was charging down the center. It nicked off Karic’s foot, and Gabarra connected.
“It was sitting right there,” Gabarra said.
And so the Sockers are no longer sitting ducks. Not that all is cured. They return to San Diego for an upcoming three-game home stand still 3 1/2 games behind first-place Dallas in the Western Division. But three games under .500 is a darn sight better than five.
If the Sockers had lost?
“Obviously,” Newman said, “I’d have said, ‘Well, what the hell now?’ ”
Instead, he has films of a nice comeback to watch when he gets home. Cleveland took a 2-0 lead in the first quarter on goals by Kai Haaskivi, the player-coach, and forward Michael King.
The Sockers rebounded late in the quarter, defender Ralph Black scoring his sixth goal of the season on a corner kick from midfielder Brian Quinn. Cleveland jumped ahead, 3-1, in the second quarter when defender Benny Dargle slipped a shot through the legs of goalie Victor Nogueira, who was forced out of the box on a breakaway. Karic made it 3-2 with a scorcher off his right foot before halftime.
Defender Cacho tied it off an assist from Waad Hirmez early in the third quarter, and Quinn gave the Sockers a 4-3 lead early in the fourth with a left-footer from 30 feet.
It was Here-We-Go-Again Time. The Crunch pressured for the remainder of regulation, controlling the ball in Socker territory. With 4:32 remaining, midfielder Borivoje Lucic advanced the ball inside the red line and drilled a shot into the corner to tie it.
“He hit it,” Nogueira said, “and it dipped.”
It dipped, and the crowd of 6,635 rose to make some noise. Could it be that the Crunch would finally win one from the Sockers, who had defeated them with relative ease in all three previous meetings?
Nope.
Things went downhill for Cleveland. Let Haaskivi describe:
“We hit the post. We hit the crossbar. We hit the goalie in the face. Anything but the goal.”
During repeated Crunch misfires, Cleveland midfielder Mike Sweeney did manage to connect with the back of Quinn’s leg midway through overtime. Quinn, who was forced to watch the rest of the way, then took credit for his clairvoyance.
“The captain has foresight,” he declared. “I decided to let Jim Gabarra have an extra few shifts. And it worked.”
Sure, sure. Whatever it takes.
“I think this just relieves the frustration,” Gabarra said. “We felt like we were playing real well. It wasn’t anything to do with us playing hard. It was like we were snake-bitten.”
The Sockers have taken a bite back. But they certainly will have to finish many more courses in the meal in front of them.
