Socker Reserves Get a Taste of Victory : MSL: Subs get plenty of playing time in 6-2 victory over last-place Dallas.
You’re all but assured of taking the best record in the MSL into the playoffs, and you’re about to oppose the Western Division’s last-place team for the second time in as many nights.
If you’re Sockers Coach Ron Newman, you figure now’s as good a time as any to see what your young, developmental midfielder can do. After all, Garrett Smith hadn’t played a second all season.
Well, Smith won’t soon forget his first-ever shift in the Major Soccer League. It came Saturday night in Dallas, where the Sockers prevailed against the Sidekicks, 6-2, in front of 6,502 at Reunion Square Arena.
Smith stepped on to the carpet about a 1 1/2 minutes into the game--at the same time Dallas’ Tatu, the league’s leading scorer, also took the field.
All of a sudden, there was the rookie Smith marking the Wayne Gretzky of the MSL.
Sure enough, Tatu seized the opportunity and made his way around Smith to score the first goal of the game.
Smith was not the only seldom-used player in the lineup. Backup goalie Savva Biller started only his fourth game of the year. He played all 60 minutes and made 15 saves.
In addition, forward Keder, who only three years ago appeared to be the next Yugoslav to explode in the MSL, dressed for only his 11th game of the year.
Keder, who scored 28 goals in 36 games during the 1987-88 season, scored only his second goal of the current season to negate Tatu’s early goal and tie the game, 1-1, eight minutes in.
As the game ensued, five other Sockers joined Keder in scoring: Rod Castro, Kevin Crow, Paul Dougherty and Jacques Ladouceur.
Castro, a second-year player, is enjoying quite a streak. Besides matching his rookie goal total (22), he has now scored at least a point in 13 of 17 games during which time he has netted 14 goals and assisted on seven others.
Dougherty, Ben Collins and Brian Quinn each dealt two assists. For Quinn, who is having his strongest statistical year ever, they were the 48th and 49th of the season and they put him within one of the 50 plateau.
Quinn’s previous high was 30 assists in 1985-86 when he played in 42 games.
That Quinn notched his 13th multiple-assist game of the season was a good sign that the Sockers were in sync. Another was that the six goals came from six different players.
But that was only half the good news. The other half was that the Sockers managed to win without the services of five of their top performers. For various reasons, Branko Segota, Waad Hirmez, Wes Wade, Michael Collins and Victor Nogueira all stayed home.
Defensively, Kevin Crow recorded his first six blocked-shots game of the year. As a team, the Sockers recorded 15 blocks to Dallas’ 13.
The victory kept intact several streaks:
* It was the sixth consecutive victory for the Sockers over the Sidekicks. The Sockers only loss to Dallas this season came back on the first weekend of games in mid-October.
* The Sockers are now 24-0 in games they have led after three quarters.
* Dallas is now 0-25 in games they have trailed after three quarters.
Socker Notes
The Sockers (31-16) reduced to three their magic number to ensure the best record in the league over St. Louis. They have five games remaining, and St. Louis must play seven. The two teams meet Easter Sunday at the Sports Arena (6:05 p.m.). . . . With Waad Hirmez not making the trip, only defenders David Banks and Kevin Crow have played in every Sockers game. . . . Before the game, Coach Ron Newman reacted to news that Bora Milutinovic has accepted a contract to coach the U.S. national team. Newman interviewed for the job a week-and-a-half ago. Milutinovic is a Yugoslav who has coached Mexico and Costa Rica into previous World Cup finals. “I knew it was done when I interviewed last week,” Newman said. “I’m not that naive. . . . I wish him well--he has got a lot of people’s lives in his hands now. People like me, (Dallas Coach) Gordon Jago, (Wichita Coach) Roy Turner; all of us who came to this country a long time ago and have tried to make soccer work here. I hope he succeeds because we want soccer to be very successful. We want to make sure there will be games we can go to when we retire. We want soccer to get the respect it deserves, that’s what we’ve been working for and now it’s in someone else’s hands. That’s difficult to get used to . . . but not impossible.”
