Crazy Eight: Sockers Win It All Again : MISL finals: A 6-4 victory over Baltimore renders a losing regular season moot and brings about the seemingly inevitable--that when all is said and done, a new championship trophy will appear in San Diego.
He was hoisted high above his teammates, who were laughing, shaking their fists in the air and shouting.
On his back was a white-and-red jersey. It said Valentine. No. 21.
But this was not Carl Valentine, forward for the Baltimore Blast. It was Brian Quinn, midfielder and captain of the Sockers, a team that polished off what began as a forgettable season with a truly unforgettable finish, topping the Baltimore Blast, 6-4, before 7,628 Friday night in Baltimore Arena to win their eighth indoor championship in nine years.
In Europe, it’s traditional for a player to exchange jerseys with an opposing player for whom he has great respect. Quinn is from Ireland, Valentine from England. Quinn approached Valentine to make the swap after turning in a performance that helped earn him the playoff MVP award and the Sockers the respect they have sought since they finished the regular season with a record of 25-27.
Respect for respect. Fair trade. And a mighty nice feeling for the ringmaster of the craziest team in the MISL, one that has now won three consecutive league championships.
“It’s a sense of achievement,” said Quinn, who had a goal and two assists to bring his playoff totals to nine and 17. “I’m glad to be a part of this, because if you don’t win, everybody forgets about you.”
Now, the only thing forgotten will be the regular season, in which the Sockers stumbled along, argued among themselves and wondered why such a talented group of players couldn’t come up with better results. They heard all the banter about how the dynasty was dead, and since they couldn’t respond with consistency on the field, they couldn’t very well respond with confidence in their words.
But as always, the playoffs were a time for the Sockers to ham it up and re-establish their dominance. This season, they defeated St. Louis, 3-1, in the best-of-five Western Division semifinals, Dallas, 4-2, in the division finals and, finally, Baltimore, 4-2, in the finals. And then they did their celebrating and their talking.
With tears welling in his eyes and champagne dripping from his brow, Socker Coach Ron Newman tried to put the victory in perspective.
“It’s wonderful,” he said. “I’ve never seen us play better than we did tonight.”
This championship was a little special for the coach who has been around for them all.
“The harder it is,” he said, “the more gratifying it is. I couldn’t understand why we couldn’t get our act together during the regular season. But whatever. It only helps us enjoy this a lot more.”
This was the difference between champagne and plain old beer, between players who wanted to get their feet or heads on the ball first and those who looked as if they knew they were about to be bested by the best.
Quinn made it 1-0 midway through the first quarter, taking the ball off the boards from defender Cacho and scoring a masterful goal by jumping in the air and connecting with his left foot. Less than a minute later, Blast midfielder Paul Dougherty, who played for the Sockers the previous three seasons, tied it with a 40-footer into the right corner that froze goalie Victor Nogueira.
Fifty-two seconds later, midfielder Waad Hirmez put momentum back into the Sockers’ corner, taking a pass from Wes Wade and sending it into the right corner to make it 2-1. A second-quarter goal by defender Ralph Black and third-quarter goals by forward Paul Wright, named unsung hero of the playoffs, and midfielder Branko Segota gave the Sockers a 5-1 lead.
The Blast pulled goalie Scott Manning at the beginning of the fourth period and put midfielder Billy Ronson in as the sixth attacker. Ronson covered the carpet aptly and made a host of nice passes to help bring the Blast back, if only briefly. Baltimore forward Rusty Troy scored two consecutive goals before the quarter was half over to make it 5-3.
But soon after, Socker foward Wes Wade intercepted an ill-timed Ronson pass and popped it in from 80 feet. All that was left was a Mike Stankovic-goal with 22 seconds to play, which served no purpose other than to make the game look a little closer than it was.
And so, Blast Coach Kenny Cooper lost his fourth championship series to the Sockers and his former coach, Newman. Though he was missing one of his key players, defender Tim Wittman, he made no excuses.
“I can congratulate them,” he said. “They played great. They play better than we do in the playoffs. And that’s it. It’s that simple.”
Who can argue? Every year, there are a few or many who say the Sockers’ reign over this not-yet-established league will come to a screeching halt. But year in and year out, they are wrong.
Segota has been around for six of these things. He also won two with the New York Arrows. How does this rate?
“I think it’s like we are,” he said, “Unpredictable. Before, we were so good we knew we were going to win. This year, everybody was saying this isn’t the Sockers of old. But we peaked at the right time. We always find a way to beat the rest of the league.”
Baltimore, remember, was magnificent during the regular season with a 32-20 record, best in the MISL. But you can’t earn a ring with that. And in the playoffs, the Sockers were 11-5.
“Best team in the league,” Black said. “Straight up. Regular season. Baltimore. Thirty-two and twenty. Good job. Sockers. Twenty five and twenty seven. Average. Playoffs. Sockers. Awesome.”
There you have it.
Socker Notes
The Sockers will arrive at Lindbergh Field today at 1:51 p.m. on American flight 827. They will hold an “Eight is Great” celebration at the San Diego Sports Arena at 6 p.m. Monday. At the presentation, which is open to the public, Mayor Maureen O’Connor will proclaim San Diego Sockers day and present the championship trophy to the team along with individual awards.