Dallas Takes Its Shots (47), Beats Sockers : Soccer: Sidekicks keep Nogueira busy and win, 7-4.

Sockers defender Kevin Crow tied a club record for most blocked shots in a game and goalie Victor Nogueira was only three away from the club record for most shots faced with 47.

What does that tell you?

It’s a sign that something was amiss with the Sockers’ control style of play. The Dallas Sidekicks, who could only manage 16 shots last time they played the Sockers, took advantage of the situation and turned it into a 7-4 victory in front of 4,873 at Reunion Arena.

With the loss, the Sockers (6-5) slipped into third place behind Wichita (7-3) and Baltimore (7-5), which beat Cleveland, 8-7, Friday night in overtime.

Nogueira, who admittedly had a bad night in the Sockers’ recent loss to Wichita, was stellar this time, coming up with 23 saves.

“Victor saved us many times tonight,” Sockers Coach Ron Newman said.

The problem was the team in front of him--especially in the final quarter when the defense committed some costly errors.

And who better to take advantage of defensive lapses than Tatu, considered the Major Soccer League’s top ball-handler.

Tatu first dizzied second-year defender David Banks as Banks pressured Tatu along the midfield boards. But Tatu quickly freed himself from both Banks and the boards with a spin move. All alone, he dribbled into his attacking third and let go of a 30-yard shot that threaded its way by two defenders and Nogueira and into the upper-left corner of the net.

“We just had a lot of breakdowns tonight,” Newman said. “Tatu rolled on us twice (he didn’t score the first time). We really have to have another man coming back to stop that from happening. We have to have a forward or midfielder coming back and helping out.”

It was Tatu’s second goal of the game and it came with seven minutes left, re-establishing Dallas’ lead at two.

Less than two minutes later Tatu hooked up with goalie Joe Papaleo to expose another Sockers’ blunder, this one committed by another second-year defender, Alex Golovnia, who decided to come off the field as Papaleo collected a loose ball in the penalty area.

Only problem being that by leaving the field, Golovnia also left Tatu all alone in the midfield. Papaleo spotted Tatu and sent a long outlet pass his way.

With no defenders in front of him, Tatu dribbled in on Nogueira and easily beat the goalie into the upper-left portion of the net.

“Alex just came off the field,” Newman fumed. “It was an incredible mistake. If he did something like that in his second game, I would have been furious. But to do it in his second season . . . it’s just a terrible mistake. Everyone knows you don’t come off the field in that situation. Alex is still making some glaring errors.”

That finished the scoring and took away the Sockers’ hopes of mounting a comeback.

Before Tatu scored the game’s final two goals, the Sockers had whittled a three-goal defecit to one.

Actually, all the whittling came in a span of one minute seven seconds which began in the second quarter.

Down, 5-2, with less than a minute remaining in the half, Socker midfielder Paul Dougherty stepped onto the field and immediately took a pass from Brian Quinn. Dougherty, known for pouncing on rebounds and scoring garbage goals, this time showed some foot skill, twisting defender Troy Snyder inside out and dribbling around him before letting go of a shot from a 45-degree angle that left Papaleo flat-footed.

Crow then narrowed the deficit to one 30 seconds after halftime by hitting a left-footer from some 20 yards out.

Both teams combined for 99 shots, the most ever in a Sockers’ game. The previous high, 86, was achieved three times.