Hirmez’s Goals Help Sockers Top Tacoma for 5th Straight : MSL: Deciding goal comes on a power play after Stars’ McCormick is ejected for kicking Hirmez in the mouth. Tacoma slips into a first-place tie in Western Division.
Waad Hirmez got kicked in the face Friday night, and because he did, the Sockers won their fifth consecutive game at home and their ninth of 12 overall.
It was the Western Division-leading Tacoma Stars who went down this time, 4-3.
And it was Hirmez who got the game-winner on a power play. The Stars were down a man because second-year player Dick McCormick received a red card ejection and a five-minute penalty for kicking Hirmez in the face four minutes into the third quarter.
The two players were along the boards next to the Tacoma bench when the altercation began.
“I was behind him,” Hirmez said. “Trying to hold him from going back. He stepped into me and we both fell down, then he just swung at me with his left foot.
And registered a direct hit on Hirmez’s left cheek.
Both players went off, Hirmez for two minutes.
But less than a minute after stepping back onto the carpet, and with Tacoma still down a man, Hirmez accepted a pass from Paul Wright just outside of the penalty area and four feet from the end boards. Hirmez turned on Wright’s pass and one-timed it between goalie Cris Vaccaro and the boards to make it 4-2.
“There was no need (for the foul),” Hirmez said. “It was a rookie mistake and it cost them the game.
“He waited for me and apologized to me after the game. But it already cost them. We’re out here to win games. We’re not out here to do something silly, then apologize for it.”
It was Hirmez’s second goal of the game. The Sockers’ victory moved them within a game of first place. With St. Louis’ 10-8 victory Friday over Cleveland, the Stars (13-9) and Storm (14-10) are tied for the lead in the Major Soccer League’s Western Division. The Sockers are 12-10.
What’s more, the Sockers play the Stars twice more in their next four games.
“If we can do very well against them in those games, we can turn the whole league around,” said Ron Newman, Sockers coach. “That’s as long as we don’t pay attention to what St. Louis is doing.”
The Sockers took a 2-1 lead into halftime.
First-year player Alex Golovnia started things with two minutes remaining in the first quarter when he gathered a pass from Brian Quinn just beyond the top-left corner of the penalty area and right-footed a shot past the left post.
In the second quarter, Ben Collins got his left instep on a long through pass from Wright in the goal mouth and redirected it above Vaccaro’s left shoulder.
The Stars halved the Sockers lead three minutes later as Freddie Thompson ran on to a pass from Gary Heale just inside his attacking third and, from the right boards, fired a 35-footer between Nogueira and the near post.
Hirmez answered that one three minutes later when David Banks, after taking a restart from Nogueira, spotted Hirmez alone along the left boards and hit him with a three-line pass. Hirmez’s quick shot sailed by Vaccaro’s right.
Socker Notes
Branko Segota, who left for Yugoslavia last weekend and returned Thursday night, still has not met with Sockers management to explain why he went ahead with his trip after being told not to. When contacted by reporters Thursday night, Segota complained of flu symptoms and before Friday’s game Coach Ron Newman said that trainer Bill Taylor has determined that Segota “is genuinely very sick” and unable to play. Newman also said Segota has only “a slim chance, even if we’re short on players, to suit up for Sunday’s game” against Kansas City. However, Newman expects to meet with Segota on Sunday after which he will decide on disciplinary measures. . . . Tacoma defender Ralph Black was presented with his championship ring by Sockers owner Ron Fowler at halftime of Friday’s game. Black was part of last year’s Sockers team that won its eighth indoor championship in nine seasons. . . . Headline in the Sockers’ game program: “Study Finds Headers Can Cause Brain Damage.”