Castro Sees to It That Sockers Win
Eye contact? From the other end of the field?
But seriously, Rod Castro . . .
Castro, a first-year Socker forward, was party to the victory and part of the fun Tuesday at the St. Louis Arena, where the Sockers squashed the Storm, 4-1, to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five MISL Western Division semifinals.
Locker room. Castro is explaining his second goal of the game, when he got behind defender Mark Frederickson, took a length of the carpet pass in the air from defender Ralph Black and drilled it past goalie Slobo Ilijevski to make it 3-0.
“Ralph and I made eye contact,” Castro says.
Guffaws circulate throughout the locker room.
“Eye contact?” defender George Fernandez says with a grin. “I’m sure. Eighty yards away?”
“No seriously, we did.” Castro says. “I signaled him.”
Captain Brian Quinn offers his two cents as defender Kevin Crow starts making signals like a third-base coach. Hands to the chest, to the forehead and to his arm. Crow shakes his head.
Says Quinn: “I thought when Juli Veee left, that was the end of bull
Castro came from the American Indoor Soccer Assn.
The Sockers came from San Diego Tuesday morning on a 7 a.m. flight with stubble and frowns on their faces following St. Louis’ 4-3 overtime victory in Game 2 Monday. Yeah, this was going to be real fun. Two games in St. Louis and the possibility, if they didn’t improve their road play, of being eliminated from the playoffs.
But, really, it was perfect. These situations always seem to bring out the best in the Sockers, who can never do any of this neatly and cleanly.
Branko Segota came to life 2:39 into the game, tapping the ball through the legs of defender Emil Dragicevic and then drilling it into the top right corner to give his team a 1-0 lead.
Before Castro scored his first goal, he created a stir in the paltry crowd of 3,426 by kicking Ilijevski in the head while going for a ball. Castro got a two-minute penalty but no handshake from Ilijevski when he later tried to apologize.
“He’s a veteran,” said Castro, shrugging. “To him, for somebody like me to kick him, it’s like ‘Get away from me.’ ”
Of course, Castro didn’t. He was right there waiting to finish the job a few minutes later, after defender Cacho drilled a shot that bounced off Ilijevski’s hand. Then he was in Ilijevski’s face again to top off the famous “eye-contact pass.”
If Ilijevski was the one smarting, perhaps Socker goalie Zoltan Toth was smarter. He was everywhere, making 25 saves, a club playoff record, for his second victory in the playoffs. Among his best was a foot save in the third quarter on a shot from forward Thompson Usiyan, who undoubtedly could see the whites of Toth’s eyes.
Toth dished off some credit to his defenders, which was appropriate. Black, Fernandez, Crow and Cacho made a host of blocks to keep the goal box well-protected.
St. Louis’ lone goal came 5:22 into the fourth, when forward Dan Donigan got by Crow after grabbing his jersey and pulling him down. Donigan wound up taking a pass from Usiyan to score. Crow had no problems with the play.
“I think it was a good tackle because he hit the ball first,” Crow said. “If I had made that tackle, I would have thought it was a good clean tackle.”
After that, things were a little tight for about three minutes, until forward Damir Haramina gathered a pass from Quinn, waited for two bounces and popped it in.
The only entertainment remaining was watching Fernandez jousting good-naturedly with a 10-year old who was giving him the thumbs down from the stands. Fifth-grade stuff.
Game 4 is here Saturday, time enough, Popovic hopes, for his gang to regroup and rest their aching limbs.
“I have some guys 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 (years old),” he said. “You play three games in four days, you’re in trouble.”
Similar to the trouble the Sockers have had on the road.
“I think we can play on the road,” said Socker Coach Ron Newman, whose team was 6-20 away from San Diego during the regular season. “We’re not the best team on the road, but we’re not as bad as we were during the season.”
Series Notes
Socker goalkeeper Zoltan Toth now has eight consecutive playoff victories . . . John Griffin, director of communications for the MISL, said Tuesday that St. Louis Coach Don Popovic has been fined for disparaging remarks made about the officiating in Saturday’s 3-2 Socker victory in San Diego. . . . Storm forward Stan Terlecki, who scored 35 points for the Storm in the regular season, returned to action Tuesday after missing the first two games with bursitis in his right knee.
