Greedy Sockers Take Advantage of Stars’ Generosity

The Sockers gave away free balls to all youths in attendance Sunday night, and the Tacoma Stars tried matching the generosity by offering free goals to all Sockers in attendance.

The Stars’ philanthropy would have been successful if a few greedy Sockers didn’t get back in line so many times.

Chief among the selfish was Paul Wright, who passed through the Tacoma defense for six goals en route to a 15-4 Sockers victory in front of 11,766 at the Sports Arena.

The 15 goals were the most ever scored by the Sockers in a game and the 11-goal margin of victory was the largest ever in the regular season.

Wright’s six goals tie him with Juli Veee and Branko Segota for most by a Socker in a game. Veee did it three times.

Wright, 22, grinned widely at the thought of being compared to the two indoor greats.

“This has to be the biggest accomplishment of my career so far,” said Wright, in his fourth season. “But it wasn’t just me. There were six assists out there, too.”

Wright’s outburst came 15 days after he tortured the Dallas Sidekicks with five goals in an 8-2 Sockers victory.

Wright wasn’t alone in taking more than his fair share of Tacoma’s handouts.

--Thompson Usiyan, who played the first nine games of the season wondering if his skills had deteriorated at age 36, came through with three goals and an assist. He now has four goals and four assists in the past three games.

--Jacques Ladouceur kicked in three goals for the first hat trick of his seven-year career. He now has nine goals and seven assists (16 points) in 12 games. If he continues with similar results, he easily will eclipse his 1989-90 career-high total of 23 points.

--And Paul Dougherty, who usually feeds off his teammates’ rebounds, was dishing out the passes. He finished with four assists, all in the second half.

The lopsided victory comes after two consecutive losses in which the Sockers seemed more intent on being lethargic.

“We were a little embarrassed by the last two games,” said Coach Ron Newman. “Especially (Friday’s 7-4 loss in Dallas) where, it seemed, we made the worst mistakes in franchise history. We were really determined to get out of that mode. No one wanted to keep that feeling going into Christmas.”

Some of the veteran players were confident those two losses would prove to be an aberration over the long haul.

“I think some people just worry way too much about what happened,” Ladouceur said. “We’re going to lose two games during the season, but if they’re in a row, people worry about it. But it’s just two games. It doesn’t mean that we’re going to carry on like that for the rest of the season.”

Usiyan, a six-year Major Soccer League veteran who is in his first season with the Sockers, disagreed.

“People were lackadaisical,” he said. “They were like, ‘Don’t worry, we’re going to get it done.’ But it’s not going to happen like that. We have to play with some emotion.”

Usiyan said he has been able to turn around his season the past two games because he stopped biting his tongue. It seems he was uncomfortable in the Sockers’ system, always coming off for defensive runner Wes Wade.

“But they’ve won nine championships using this system, so who was I to make suggestions?” Usiyan wondered.

Before the Dallas game he did speak up and Newman listened. Usiyan did not yield to the defensive runner Sunday. Because he didn’t, Usiyan said, he had his best night as a Socker.

“Before they were trying to get me into their system,” Usiyan said. “Now they’re are trying to play to my strength.”

His strength is as a point man. He wants to be the Brian Quinn in the attacking third, taking passes along the boards or near the goal. In those situations Usiyan feels confident that he can manufacture a shot on goal, either by taking it himself or by finding the open man and passing to him.

Usiyan made Newman’s decision to keep him on the field pay off midway through the first quarter when he scored his second goal of the game. He took a pass from Tim Wittman along the corner boards, and with defender Ed Radwanski marking him tightly, Usiyan circled into the middle of the carpet. Once he gained a step on Radwanski, he fired a right-footer between goalie Mike Dowler and the far post for a 3-1 Sockers lead.

“Tomo was very determined tonight,” Newman said. “He really looked like he wanted to make an impact.”

While adjusting the system to get more out of Usiyan, Newman also adjusted the roster to suit Wright, moving him from forward, where he is uncomfortable posting up in front of the goalie, and moving him back to defensive midfield, where he can begin long runs and take advantage of his speed.

And once Wright started running, he didn’t stop.

“It’s weird,” Wright said. “After I get a goal or two, my confidence starts to build and I feel like I can’t be stopped.”

Sockers Notes

Midfielder Brian Quinn, who assisted on John Kerr’s goal early in the first quarter, extended his point streak to nine games and his assist streak to eight. . . . The Sockers’ six goals in the third quarter is one short of the club record. . . . Those six goals came in a span of exactly 10 minutes and four of them came in a span of one minute 16 seconds. . . . This is the first time in club history the Sockers have opened the season with five consecutive Sports Arena crowds of more than 10,000.