Lifeless Sockers Buried by Baltimore, 8-1

This was a perfect chance for the Sockers to come out fresh and spunky and prove they aren’t yet worthy of the Major Indoor Soccer League junkyard.

What better opponent than the Baltimore Blast (22-12), rivals in last season’s seven-game championship series? What better timing than two days after an All-Star game in which five Socker representatives played swimmingly?

But what did happen Friday night before 7,010 at the San Diego Sports Arena is hard to believe, even during this season of mediocrity.

Blast 8, Sockers 1.

Rub your eyes and look again.

“That was one of the most embarrassing things in my life,” defender George Fernandez said. “Eight-one at home? Give me a break. History was made tonight. We’re breaking all kinds of records this year, aren’t we? Negative ones.”

This was was the worst MISL regular-season defeat in the Sockers’ history. They are now 14-19, six games out of first in the Western Division.

Owner Ron Fowler interrupted Socker Coach Ron Newman’s chat with reporters following the game. Newman followed Fowler into the locker room, the door was shut and there was a brief discussion.

“Ron was obviously upset with the effort, and he told them so,” Newman said. “We can’t let the team disintegrate in front of us.”

This is how the Sockers disintegrated Friday.

First, Baltimore was a bit lucky. Blast defender Mike Stankovic got things rolling in the first quarter, taking a shot from the redline that bounced into a crowd and deflected off the chest of Socker forward Wes Wade and into the goal.

The second goal was similarly styleless. Stankovic hit a ball off the board. Blast forward Peter Ward hit a soft shot from a few feet out. Goalie Victor Nogueira got a small piece of it. Goal. Blast 2, Sockers 0.

Then, late in the third quarter, former Socker Paul Dougherty sent his old friends down the shoot, volleying a pass to himself over Fernandez’s head and scoring right-footed. Dougherty’s smile after the game was as big as his team’s margin of victory.

“I think maybe a lot of their all-star players were on a high from Wednesday night,” Dougherty said. “It’s tough to come into a game like this when you’re on such a high. It showed tonight.

The Sockers won’t have to worry about being on a high when they play host to St. Louis tonight at 7:35.

Blast goalie Scott Manning turned in his usual magnificent performance to keep the Sockers buried down the stretch. He had a field day last year, winning five defensive player of the game awards in his five starts and five victories against the Sockers. Friday he made seven saves, one on a rocket from Branko Segota and another on a close-range shot by forward Steve Zungul.

Trailing 4-0, the Sockers went to a sixth attacker with 7:25 remaining. A little more than two minutes later, Blast midfielder Freddie Thompson connected on a shot from the midfield stripe that defender Ralph Black, serving as the sixth attacker, couldn’t catch up with.

At 5-0, the Sockers finally got on the board with 4:22 remaining when forward Zoran Karic sent a shot into the right corner, preventing their first regular-season shutout since 1987.

Little consolation.

The Blast responded with goals from defenders Mike Reynolds and Tim Wittman and Ward.

Newman, looking dejected and even a bit puzzled, could only credit Baltimore for its effort.

“I thought we were shown a lesson there tonight,” he said. “ Baltimore was better.

“We’ve been saying all year ‘Where is it? Is it around the corner?’ ”

Those are questions that are becoming increasingly harder to answer.

Socker Notes

Socker owner Ron Fowler said Friday the Sockers have reopened negotiations with the Tacoma Stars, who have been attempting to trade midfielder Dave Hoggan. Fowler wouldn’t comment on what the Sockers would offer in return, but there has been talk of a trade involving forward Damir Haramina, who has only played once in the past 11 games. . . . Tacoma Coach Keith Weller, who left his assistants position with the Sockers Dec. 5, has activated himself as a player for 15 days in the wake of the Stars’ injury troubles. . . . Veteran forward Steve Zungul played in his first home game since Dec. 10 Friday. Zungul missed 14 consecutive games during the middle of the season before returning to the lineup Feb. 9 at Kansas City. . . . Midfielder Brian Quinn, who played sparingly in Wednesday’s MISL All-Star game, was back to regular shifts Friday. Quinn, whose most recent injury of many this season is a groin strain, was noticeably hobbled during the All-Star game. “I felt really poor,” he said, “but I didn’t want to miss that game.”