Sockers Down to Business : MISL playoffs: 3-2 victory over St. Louis gives them a 1-0 lead in the teams’ best-of-five Western Division semifinals.
Some of the pre-game rituals were the same Saturday night in the San Diego Sports Arena, but there was a certain intensity that is not usually seen before regular-season games.
It was less than an hour before the Sockers took the field against the St. Louis Storm for a game they would eventually win, 3-2, to take a 1-0 lead in the Western Division semifinals.
A crowd of 6,100 later watched nervously in the fourth quarter as midfielder Branko Segota took a pass off the boards from midfielder Brian Quinn, swerved around two defenders and sent a 25-footer through the legs of goalie Slobo Ilijevski with 8:22 remaining. The goal came in the middle of a Storm power play and, combined with another by forward Jim Gabarra four minutes later, gave the Sockers their 10th consecutive victory at home.
But it was in the locker room beforehand that you could find a new attitude mixed in with some traditional preparations.
Defender Kevin Crow and Segota were searching through a pile of yellow socks for just the right pair.
“You try to get the right size,” Crow said. “And then you try to get one without holes. You can tell the ones Paul Dougherty used to wear because you can put them on your kids.”
Forward Paul Wright was polishing his soccer shoes. Something new for the playoffs?
“I always do this,” he said. “Got to look good to play good.”
But there in the middle of the standard procedures was defender Ralph Black, whose facial expression announced that this was something a little special. Black strained his neck going for a header in practice Friday and could barely turn his head to the right. But he wasn’t about to skip this one.
“I ain’t sitting on the bench and watching,” he said. “I can’t come this far and not play.”
Evidently the Storm, who defeated the Sockers in five of eight meetings during the regular season, felt the same way. They never gave the Sockers an inch in a game that was deadlocked until 5:05 into the third quarter, when forward Marcio Leite scored a shootout goal to give St. Louis a 1-0 lead.
The shot was awarded following Socker goalie Zoltan Toth’s attempt to make a foot save on midfielder Thompson Usiyan, who had a breakaway after stealing the ball from defender George Fernandez. Toth tripped Usiyan, whose face-first plunge into the carpet was followed by a whistle and then the goal.
But Black, stiff neck and all, helped give his teammates a lift with less than three minutes remaining in the third quarter, drilling a line drive that midfielder Waad Hirmez redirected with his left foot and into the goal.
Segota and Gabarra’s goals, combined with Toth’s spirited play down the stretch, helped the Sockers overcome a rather inauspicious beginning and hang on during a late Storm rally led by Usiyan, who scored with 38 seconds remaining.
St. Louis had all the spunk in the first quarter, and the Sockers spent most of their time trying to find their footing and each other.
It was mass confusion.
For example: Midway through the quarter, Hirmez opted to take a shot with two Storm defenders standing in his face. Meanwhile, midfielder Quinn stood wide open to Hirmez’s right near the edge of the goal mouth. Quinn held his hands up in disgust after Hirmez’s shot was deflected and St. Louis took possession.
A few seconds later, forward Gabarra knocked a pass directly to the feet of Storm midfielder Claudio De Oliveira without a Socker in the vicinity.
A two-minute tripping penalty toward the end of the quarter on Fernandez didn’t help matters, though the Sockers began to find their playoff legs as the period closed and wound up killing the power play early in the second.
The Sockers appeared to settle down as halftime approached and were more patient and accurate with their passes. Still, St. Louis continued to arrive at the ball before the Sockers, who missed a prime opportunity midway through when Segota took a pass from Hirmez in the middle of the penalty box but knocked it directly at Ilijevski.
The half ended in scoreless tie. That at least a couple of goals were missed on each side largely because of terrific goalkeeping by Socker Zoltan Toth and Ilijevski, who each made eight saves.
Socker Notes
Defender Cacho returned to the lineup after missing the last three games of the regular season with a left knee strain. . . . Of twelve St. Louis players who have seen playoff action, 10 have lost in the playoffs to the Sockers at one time or another. . . . St. Louis Coach Don Popovic and Socker Coach Ron Newman have won a combined total of 11 indoor championships. As coach of the New York Arrows, Popovic won the first four MISL championships from 1979 to 1982. Newman has won seven in the past eight seasons, two NASL and five MISL. . . . This is the first time the Sockers have faced an expansion team in the playoffs. The Sockers were 2-2 at the Sports Arena against the Storm during the regular season. . . . Kansas City defeated host Wichita, 5-4, in the first game of the Eastern Division semifinals.