Rookie, Sockers Peaking : MISL: Rod Castro and his teammates have played their best soccer of the season lately. They hope to continue the trend in Game 3 of the league finals against Baltimore tonight at the Sports Arena.
In many ways, Rod Castro’s development has been much the same as that of his team.
Castro, a first-year forward on the Sockers, came to the MISL from the American Indoor Soccer Assn. with confidence in his ability but only a rough idea of what it would take to put it to use. Sixty-four games later, after stumbling over an assortment of hurdles, he knows what he’s doing.
Coach Ron Newman said at the beginning of the season this might be his best Socker team. And 64 games later, after several stumbles, the seven-time champions know what they’re doing. After player-coach rifts, a trade and a lot of shaky play on the road, the Sockers are in top form and tied, 1-1, with the Baltimore Blast entering Game 3 of the best-of-seven MISL championship series tonight at 7:35 in the San Diego Sports Arena.
Getting an education isn’t always easy, but everything clicked just a few weeks ago, and the Sockers have now won five of seven playoff games on the road, after a 6-20 mark during the regular season.
“What we realized in the St. Louis series (the Western Division semifinals) is that we have to work on both ends of the field,” midfielder Brian Quinn said. “The last 12 games we’ve just played our best soccer of the season.”
Castro has been a part of that. There hasn’t been a finer play in this series than his fourth-quarter goal Thursday, when he hit a 25-footer by spinning away from defender Carl Valentine to tie the score, 2-2. The Sockers went on to win, 4-3.
Success is easily measured by points, but the subtle things are often overlooked. In a game against Wichita early this season, Castro recalls being whistled for a penalty and kicking the ball away from the referee in disgust. That got him two minutes in the box for unsportsmanlike conduct and put Wichita on the power play.
In Thursday’s game, Castro won the ball from Blast defender Angelo Panzetta but was called for holding. A thought ran through his mind. Why not give this ball a ride and let the referee chase it?
“I had the ball, and I was going to kick it,” Castro said. “And I said ‘No.’ Little things like that you pick up as the year goes along.”
Because he has matured, Castro is now a viable option for Newman, who often sat him down during the middle of the season when Castro was having trouble scoring.
“And that would make it even worse,” Castro said. “I feel the only way a coach can tell you he has confidence in you is by playing you.”
If that indeed is the measuring stick, Newman’s confidence in Castro has returned. In the playoffs, Castro often has been switched in for veteran forward Jim Gabarra, and he has responded with six goals.
In Game 3 against St. Louis, he had two goals to help the Sockers to a 4-1 victory. Castro also scored the winning goal in Game 1 of the Dallas series.
Even Branko Segota, a tough guy to impress, liked what he saw when Castro scored on Thursday.
“Pretty to watch,” Segota said. “He turned so nicely, like a ballerina.”
Now, all Castro has to do is survive one more week. He’s finding that an MISL season, which starts in October, is a little different than the four-month AISA season. There are more kicks to the shin and elbows to the rib cage.
“I’m starting to feel aches and pains that I never used to get,” he said. “Here, I’ve had to kick and scratch and use every last bit of energy to do what I have to do.”
That’s energy he doesn’t mind expending. Certainly, Castro will never be criticized for not putting forth enough effort.
“He’s always there,” Quinn said. “He likes to be a participant even when things aren’t going well.”
Series Notes
Forward Paul Wright has a five-game point-scoring streak, with two points in three consecutive games. . . . Midfielder Brian Quinn tied Juli Veee as the team’s all-time playoff assist leader Thursday with 62. . . . The Sockers, 0-13 on the road in the regular season when trailing after three quarters, are 2-1 in the playoffs. . . . Victor Nogueira (2-3, 2.79 goals-against average) is scheduled to start in goal tonight for the Sockers, Scott Manning (5-1, 2.70 GAA) for Baltimore.
