Sockers Would Rather Win It Without Drama

In keeping with a history of making everything exciting and dramatic, it hardly figures the Sockers will take three in a row from the Dallas Sidekicks here in San Diego and be done with these Western Division finals.

Why tinker with methods that have worked well enough to win seven championships? In this series last season, they took leads of 1-0 and 2-1 before falling behind, 3-2, and then winning the final two games.

It worked out great.

But midfielder Brian Quinn thinks the mystique or whatever it is that gets the Sockers through the rough spots might wear out one of these days. He wouldn’t mind taking care of business and skipping the suspense.

“I’d rather not lie on the edge,” said Quinn, whose team plays the Sidekicks tonight in Game 3 at 7:35 in the San Diego Sports Arena. “If you don’t kill the opposition when you should, eventually it jumps up to bite you.”

The Sidekicks, who defeated the Sockers Saturday in Dallas to even the series at a game apiece, haven’t done much more than bark in San Diego, where they have won just one of 16 regular-season games and one of four in the playoffs. Tatu led the MISL in scoring during the regular season but hasn’t scored a goal in this series. In fact, he hasn’t scored a goal against the Sockers in 242 minutes 43 seconds spanning five games. And he hasn’t gotten a goal or an assist in San Diego for 211 minutes 30 seconds.

The Sockers have worries of their own. Kevin Crow, generally regarded as the league’s best defender, suffered an abdominal strain in the first half of Saturday’s game. Though he has watched practice from the sidelines this week, he plans to be out there for regular shifts tonight.

“It’s sore,” Crow said. “But I think I’ll be able to play. Sunday and Monday were bad. Tuesday and Wednesday it improved. I’ll just have to be careful.”

The Sockers are still looking for more offensive production from midfielder Branko Segota, who has lately been doing more passing than shooting. He is a good passer, but that doesn’t make up for his shot, which has often carried the Sockers in the past but has been missing lately.

With just one assist in the series, Segota says he is reluctant to play more physically because he’s tired of spending time in the penalty box. But finesse hasn’t worked so far.

“Branko’s got to be Branko,” defender Ralph Black said. “He can’t worry about the ref putting him in the box.”

The Sockers spent time in practice this week making adjustments on their power-play unit, which hasn’t scored in 10 playoff attempts. In the dubious record department, the Sockers are two power-play failures away from tying the team record of 12, achieved in the 1982 and 1987 playoffs.

Improvement on the power play would serve the Sockers well, considering Dallas committed 35 fouls in Game 2 and plays a scrappy style of soccer. The Sockers are sure to have their chances.

“We have to punish them for their two-minute penalties,” Quinn said. “Their style is physical, and they’re not going to change now.”

Socker Notes

Socker Wes Wade, a rookie forward, has decided to keep his mouth shut because one of his quotes found its way back to Texas last week. Wade told a reporter earlier this season that the Sockers couldn’t wait to play Dallas because they could beat them any time they wanted. The Sidekicks got hold of it and posted it in their locker room. Approached Thursday for a comment about tonight’s game, Wade said: “No. I get into trouble when I talk to the press.” . . . Midfielder Ben Collins, sidelined since March 31 at Tacoma with a right foot sprain, has been cleared to play, but Coach Ron Newman said he probably won’t be used tonight. Rookie defender Don Cogsville, out since April 12 following arthroscopic knee surgery, has returned to practice and may play before the conclusion of this series. . . . Tonight’s game will be shown on ESPN on May 24 at 9 p.m.