Sockers Keep Weak Stars On the Run
The fax machines at the Sports Arena worked overtime Sunday night following the Sockers’ 9-4 triumph over the Tacoma Stars in front of 7,737.
Paul Wright was wiring his resume to the Santa Monica Track Club, figuring there might be someone there who can match his speed. The Tacoma Stars were filing an application for admittance into the National Professional Soccer League, figuring there might be some teams there to match their poor play.
If Wright’s resume were accepted, the Stars would have no reason to leave the Major Soccer League.
Conversely, if the Stars’ demotion to the minor leagues went through, Wright wouldn’t have as much reason to seek faster competition.
Wright has a way of exposing the Stars for what they are, and the Stars have a way of making Wright look like a cross between Carl Lewis and Juli Veee.
There he goes racing past the Stars’ defense. There he is in front of an under-equipped goalie Mike Dowler and firing the ball past him.
It happened four times Sunday, all in the first half.
It was Wright’s third multi-goal performance in as many games against the Stars this season. Wright, who scored six times in a 15-4 victory over Tacoma Dec. 15, now has 12 goals against the Stars this season--that’s half his season total.
Further, his 24 goals lead the Sockers and is third in the MSL.
Ahead of him with 26 goals each are Dallas’ Tatu and Wichita’s Dale Ervine.
Ervine was born and raised in the Los Angeles area. Although he was born in England, Wright grew up in San Diego and attended Grossmont High.
“You’ve got to really think of Paul as an American,” Newman said, noting Wright picked up his soccer skills in the county’s youth system. “What’s really great is that Dale Ervine and Paul Wright, two American kids, are among the league’s top goal scorers. It has been a long time since an American was among the top goal scorers.”
Actually it has been more than a long time. Should either Wright or Ervine finish atop the league in goal scoring, it will be the first time an American has ever done so.
But Wright wasn’t about to shoulder all the credit for the latest victory, which puts the Sockers (11-6) a half-game behind first-place Wichita.
“I think the whole team gets up for these guys,” he said. “It’s not just me.”
True enough--Wright had to get passes from someone. It’s what he does with those passes that separates him from his teammates.
“We can never do what he does,” said Brian Quinn, a nine-year indoor veteran and perhaps the top midfielder in the game. The “we” Quinn referred to was the team’s midfielders, who without a prolific scoring touch have worked hard to hone other skills such as ball handling and passing. “But he can do what we do. It’s up to him to decide if he wants to do all the other parts of the game, too. It’s a lot of hard work.”
Wright said he’s working on it.
“And it’s coming along nicely,” he said. “My ball handling is improving, and my passing is improving.”
No matter how hard he works at it, Wright’s passing skills likely never will match those of Quinn. Sunday night he created one of the few goals Wright did not score by slipping a pass through the midfield and to John Kerr in the Sockers’ attacking third. Kerr was all alone when he accepted the pass and had no trouble firing it past Dowler for a 7-2 Sockers’ lead.
What made the goal remarkable was how Quinn got the pass by midfielder Carl Valentine, who had positioned himself between the two Sockers. Quinn simply passed it between Valentine’s legs.
“But I won’t take credit for that one,” Quinn said. “It was a mistake.”
Wright’s best goal of the night also came on something of a mistake. After Alex Golovnia dug the ball out from the corner boards in his defensive third and looped it toward the red line, Wright ran onto it and headed it upfield.
He then simultaneously chased down the ball and raced by Tacoma’s defense.
Once he got into shooting range, however, he began to lose control of the ball, allowing defender Joe Waters to catch up.
No problem. Wright simply shot around Waters and the ball found its way between Dowler and the right post.
“I watch where the goalie sets up,” Wright said about his precision finishing. “And if I choose the right angle, as hard as I hit it, it’s almost impossible for the goalie to stop.”
Sockers Notes
Defender Terry Woodberry entered the game leading the MSL with 34 fouls. Ironically, he had not been whistled for a penalty. That changed three minutes into the final quarter when he was sent off for tripping. Woodberry also scored the game’s final goal. It was his first since Dec. 13 (six games). . . . Saturday night the Associated Press reported the Stars had defeated Dallas, 10-0. The AP was close--the actual score was 10-8. . . . Paul Dougherty extended his point streak to 12 with a power-play goal in the third quarter. It’s the longest such streak of his career and the longest for a Socker this season.
