Storm Clouds Opener by Toppling Sockers

The return of three key players off last year’s championship team was not enough for the Sockers to check the St. Louis Storm on Saturday night at the Sports Arena.

The Storm ruined the Sockers’ home opener in front of 11,113 by rallying for a 6-5 overtime victory.

Terry Brown provided the game-winner after stealing the ball from Brian Quinn at 8 minutes 35 seconds into the extra period. He sprinted upfield and drew Sockers goalie Victor Nogueira off his line before firing a shot high into the far corner.

The Storm earned their first victory of the season after losing their home opener 24 hours earlier to the Cleveland Crunch and arriving in San Diego eight hours before game time.

The Sockers, however, have themselves to blame for this one. They were up by two goals early in the final quarter when former Socker Branko Segota sneaked behind the defense and scored his second goal of the night off a pass from Greg Muhr.

That cut the lead to 5-4, a slim margin that was erased four minutes later after Nogueira, in an attempt to clear the ball out of his end, instead passed it to St. Louis midfielder Kevin Hundelt.

Knowing Nogueira had no chance to get back into position, Hundelt quickly centered the ball to first-year player George Pastor, who put it into the open net.

The two goals were sweet revenge for Segota, who was never bashful about voicing his dislike of Sockers’ management--especially Coach Ron Newman--during his seven-year stay here.

Segota spoke openly in the 1990-91 season about becoming a free agent and signing with St. Louis, but he was further angered by Newman during the off-season when the coach put him on right of first refusal, keeping him from free agency.

Knowing Segota’s distaste for the team and realizing he would be of little use if the Sockers kept him against his wishes, Newman dealt him to St. Louis for Thompson Usiyan.

Both teams traded end-to-end runs in the overtime period.

At one point, Paul Dougherty sprinted off the bench to take the ball in on Storm goalie Zoltan Toth. After drawing the goalie out of the nets, Dougherty hit a pass to Collins at the top of the box, but Collins’ shot at the empty net was wide left.

Wes Wade also went on an end-to-end run, controlling the ball while sprinting through several defenders before firing a shot that was deflected by Toth.

When St. Louis finally scored on one of the many overtime breakaways, it spoiled the season debut of three Sockers.

With Paul Wright back from Baltimore, Brian Quinn back from the U.S. national team and Collins back from a knee injury, the Sockers, at least until the fourth quarter, looked like the team that earned the ninth banner they added to the rafters earlier in the evening.

Wright’s signing was kept secret until game time and the surprised crowd gave him a standing ovation; he was the last to emerge from the flashing “SOCKERS” sign.

He absorbed the applause with hands over head exactly as Juli Veee used to, and 20 seconds after taking his first shift he continued the impersonation.

Wright earned an assist by slipping a pass to Tim Wittman off to the left of the goal. Wittman’s first-time shot squirted behind Toth.

After Mark Santel tied it, another Socker who did not play Thursday, got the goal back. Collins scored on a shoot-out attempt after Greg Muhr was called for a hand ball in the penalty area.

As for Quinn, he gave the Sockers’ their ill-fated two-goal lead, 5-3, early in the third quarter by being at the right place (the far post) at the right time (just as Usiyan was sending a crossing pass that way).

* DAVE DISTEL: At the outset of every season, winning another title seems impossible for the Sockers. C17A