Dougherty Leads Sockers in Rout : MSL: Hat trick third of season for Dougherty, as Tacoma falls, 11-2.

As far as suspense goes, the Sockers Thursday were in need of an Alfred Hitchcock type.

But instead a triumvirate of Sockers proved more Irwin Allen-like and together spelled disaster for Tacoma, 11-2.

Paul Dougherty came through with a hat trick. Brian Quinn came through with three assists. And Branko Segota booted in two goals and assisted on another.

For Dougherty, it was the third hat trick of the season, most on the team. For Quinn, it was the fifth game this season in which he has passed for at least three assists. For Segota, it was the fourth consecutive game in which he has tallied at least two points.

As far as team marks go, the 11 goals were a season high.

And, oh, by the way, the Sockers have now won all 25 games this year in which they were ahead after three quarters.

If it’s all becoming a bit hum-drum, well, here’s a surprise: the Sports Arena was sold out, all 12,844 seats, though many remained empty on a Big Buddie promotion in which individuals and corporations bought $4 tickets and donated them to area children.

It was the first Sockers’ regular-season sellout since Nov. 2, 1986.

The victory reduced the Sockers’ magic number to clinch the Major Soccer League’s best record and the home-field advantage through the playoffs to two games over the St. Louis Storm (28-19), which currently sits 3 1/2 games behind the Sockers (32-16) in the West.

All of which means Sunday’s 6 p.m. Sports Arena showdown between the two teams won’t be the match to decide first place as once thought.

But back to Thursday’s game.

“That was a coach’s game,” Socker Coach Ron Newman said. “That one let me relax a little bit and experiment a little bit.”

It appears the coach has hit on the right chemistry. The team’s passing was as sharp as it was during its 14-game home winning streak that was sandwiched around the All-Star break. Perhaps more importantly, however, players were moving well without the ball, finding holes in Tacoma’s second-ranked defense and making good passes all the easier.

As Quinn makes a habit of saying after multi-assist games, “My game revolves around people getting open and if people get open, it makes it so much easier for me to play. When you see that I get a lot of assists, you’ll also see that the team played well.”

While Quinn had an explanation for his play, however modesty-tinged it might have been, Dougherty did not.

Though he leads the team in hat tricks this year, Thursday’s was his first since Nov. 9. This is a guy who runs in streaks, hot and cold.

“There must be a reason for it,” Dougherty said, “but I don’t know what it is. The last few games I’ve been hitting the inside of the posts, but the ball doesn’t bounce in. Tonight I hit the target and my shots went in. I don’t know what it is, but it is something which has been following me since I started playing indoors.”

The 5-foot-2 Englishman opened the scoring three minutes into the game in true Paul Dougherty fashion--by being in the right place at the right time.

There he was at the top of the box as a rebound of a Glenn Carbonara shot caromed his way. He got the tip of his toes on it and redirected it behind rookie goalie Todd Strobeck.

Tacoma was forced to go with Strobeck because of a shoulder injury to regular goalie Cris Vaccaro.

Though Strobeck’s inexperience showed through in his reaction to crossing passes, it was difficult to determine if the outcome would have been different if Vaccaro manned the nets.

“We were just unbelievable,” Newman said. “Our passing was sharp and our finishing brilliant. When we win like this, though, it’s hard to tell if we played so well, or if the other team played so poorly.”

Segota’s goals were somewhat of a surprise, considering his badly bruised right ankle.

That’s the right ankle--as in his shooting foot.

“I couldn’t even shoot as of yesterday,” Segota said. “And tonight I couldn’t even take very many shots with my right foot.”

Besides the above mentioned triumvirate, others contributed significantly to the victory.

Paul Wright added a goal and an assist to the attack, Jim Gabarra dealt two assists, and Wes Wade kicked in a goal and assisted on another.