Sockers Offering Plenty of Reasons for Loss to Storm

--Socker Coach Ron Newman was offering excuses. Storm defender Mark Frederickson was not.

Newman was explaining why his team didn’t win Game 3 of the MSL Western Division finals Sunday night at the Arena in front of 5,751 and why the Storm came away with a 5-4 victory.

The Sockers lead the seven-game series, 2-1. Game 4 will be here Thursday.

Newman was bothered by the loss, but he was downright upset at what he saw as unnecessary contributing factors, especially the scheduling of Sunday’s game in St. Louis only 18 hours after Game 2 had concluded in San Diego.

“I can’t remember two teams playing as bad as this in this league,” Newman said when questioned about fatigue from both Game 2 and the early morning plane trip to St. Louis.

“Our balance was gone,” he said. “We didn’t have our usual speed to get to the ball, so the passing went astray.”

He wasn’t the only one in the Socker locker room with that opinion.

“Whoever did the scheduling for this should get a hole in the head,” said Brian Quinn. “This is not good for the fans and it’s not good for the players.”

But fatigue only was one factor. A second was a play nearly six minutes into the third quarter. Frederickson had to explain.

The play in question involved Frederickson and Socker forward Paul Wright. Wright had dribbled past the red line and to the edge of the penalty area and looked as though he were about to fire.

But he didn’t. Frederickson came in from behind and took him down with a tackle before he had the chance.

There was no whistle.

“Hey,” Frederickson said, “my job is to try to keep the other team from scoring. And that’s what I did. I was just sprinting back on defense. I don’t even know if he had the ball yet, but I got a piece of the ball and, well, I definitely got a piece of (Wright), too. But the refs didn’t call it.”

The Storm led at that point, 3-2, but if not for the tackle, Wright thinks he would have tied it.

“That was definitely a goal,” he said. “The ball was on my right side, I was on the edge of the box and I was winding up. That’s routine and (Frederickson) knew that. He knew he had to do something, so maybe he decided to go for the foul thinking they could stop the (ensuing) shootout. But the refs didn’t call a shootout.”

The lack of a call infuriated Newman.

“If that’s not a shootout,” Newman said, “in my life, I’ll never see another shootout. That should be used as a demonstration for the referees. Someone should show them a tape of this and say, ‘This is what we’re trying to stop.’ This sort of thing is absolutely intolerable.”

To Frederickson, it’s not.

“The refs were letting a lot of things go tonight,” he said. “But at least they were being consistent. They let a lot of things go on both sides.”

The Sockers took an initial two-goal lead as St. Louis appeared lackadaisical in the early going.

Wes Wade scored first a minute and a half into the game. He and Ben Collins had sneaked behind the defense using two passes off the end boards. When Collins’ initial shot bounced off the plexiglass above the goal, Wade was there to head it into an empty net.

There was no more scoring until 44 seconds had elapsed in the second quarter. That’s when Branko Segota, after fielding an outlet pass from goalie Victor Nogueira, let go with screamer from just inside the red line that got by St. Louis goalie Slobo Ilijevski before he had a chance to react.

So much for two-goal leads. St. Louis scored the game’s next four goals.

The first two came within 25 seconds of each other late in the second quarter. Both were unassisted. First Bobo Lucic, who was playing in his first home game in four months, bounced one in from 25 feet out.

Preki came right back and scored on a free kick as the Sockers failed to construct a defensive wall, which, when Preki is involved, is a little like trying to keep George Foreman away from cheeseburgers by telling him he’s got a fight with Evander Holyfield coming up.

Preki’s shot went high and just inside the left post to tie it, 2-2.

After third-quarter goals from Emil Dragicevic and Godfrey Ingram gave St. Louis a two-goal pad, the Sockers came back with two of their own in the final quarter.

Brian Quinn made it 4-3 when he turned on a short pass from Rod Castro--who fished the ball out of a pack of players along the boards--and hit it inside the far post.

The Sockers tied it with five minutes left when Collins and Hirmez worked a give-and-go, the end result of which was Hirmez aiming at an empty net--and hitting it--from 10 feet out.

But two minute later, St. Louis went back on top when Ingram connected on a rebound of a Dan Donigan miss.

Still, it wasn’t over. Twice in the final minute there was a flurry of shots at Ilijevski, and both times the ball squirted behind Ilijevski and appeared to be headed across the goal line. Both times Ilijevski was able to recover and pull in the loose ball.

“It’s like my coach says,” Ilijevski explained, “Everybody who works hard will find luck on his side. I needed luck in the end there, but it was my turn to get lucky. I worked hard for it.”

Indeed, Ilijevski, 41, came up with a second stellar performance in as many nights, making 16 saves and coming from nowhere to do so on several occasions.

“Every year people say Slobo is finished,” Storm Coach Don Popovic said. “But he just doesn’t quit. He’s an inspiration. He’s 41 years old, but he’s playing like he’s 18.”