Segota, Henderson Report to Sockers

Two players walked into the Sockers’ offices Monday. One announced his arrival, though a week late, the other handed in a contract.

After being out of touch since before the start of training camp Sept. 17, Branko Segota, the team’s second-leading scorer, arrived from Yugoslavia, where he spent the summer.

Eddie Henderson, the fourth pick in the draft, returned a nine-month contract, thus becoming the 10th player to sign for the 1990-91 season.

Henderson is only the third of 11 first-round picks the Sockers have ever signed right out of college. The other two were Donald Cogsville in 1989 and Jim Stamatis in 1980. Neither remained with the team more than a year.

Erich Geyer, assistant coach, thinks Henderson will break that tradition.

“He could do a lot of damaging stuff to league defenders,” Geyer said. “His strength is communicating with other players and working the give and go.”

Henderson was voted by teammates the toughest player to mark while playing with the Seattle Storm of the Western Soccer League during the summer. His elusiveness comes from two factors: his size (5-foot-1, 130 pounds) and his speed, which Coach Ron Newman said will be utilized in counterattacks.

Segota, with 245 goals and 194 assists is likely to pass Juli Veee as the team’s all-time leader in both categories in this, his sixth season with the team. Veee, who played seven indoor seasons with the Sockers, retired in 1988 with 254 goals and 213 assists.

In their first preseason game of the year, the Sockers played San Diego State to a 1-1 tie Monday night in front of 700 at Aztec Bowl.

Joe Giacalone scored for the Sockers, 15 minutes into the third period, with the assist by Vava. Nine minutes later, the Aztecs’ Bill Demke scored on a Greg Cipolla assist.