Preki, Segota Lead MSL West Stars
Go figure--those that shone brightest Thursday in the MSL’s 13th All-Star Game at Baltimore were players from the most lackluster team, last-place St. Louis.
Storm forward Preki scored two goals and set up five others, and teammate Branko Segota scored three goals and added three assists as the West beat the East, 14-9.
The 23-goal performance easily surpassed the All-Star record of 18 in 1985.
Preki was named the game’s Most Valuable Player, the third time he has won the award in the past five years, and Segota became the MSL’s leading All-Star scorer with 10 goals and 11 assists (21 points) in nine appearances, surpassing Steve Zungul’s standard of 19.
Hector Marinaro of Cleveland had three goals for the East.
As for Sockers players, forward Paul Wright scored two goals and midfielder Paul Dougherty, defender Ben Collins and forward Wes Wade scored one each.
Socker goalie Victor Nogueira played the first half and tied an All-Star record by making 17 saves in that time. Shep Messing of the New York Arrows was the first to stop 17 shots in a half; he did it in 1981.
Nogueira limited the East to only three goals in his two quarters and also was credited with an assist, becoming only the second goalie in an All-Star game to do so.
Segota, who finished second to Preki in the MVP voting, said the West victory proved that the veterans still can do the job in a big game.
“We’ve been doing it for 10 years,” he said. “That’s what it takes to prove yourself.”
West Coach Ron Newman, who was booed by the Baltimore fans, said the boos were better than what happened to him in St. Louis recently when a newspaper article referred to him as Paul Newman.
“I’m better looking than Paul Newman, younger and my salad dressing is better,” said the Sockers coach. “But the game didn’t surprise me at all. These guys on the West are so good that people ought to pay to watch them play.”
The West appeared ready to put the game away in the third quarter, when it greeted relief goalkeeper Joe Papaleo with a pair of goals by Wright and a single tally by Segota to take a 7-3 lead.
Papaleo said he knew he was in trouble when Wright beat him 15 seconds into the second half.
“When Paul Wright scored, Hector (Marinaro) was laughing at me,” Papaleo said. “Can you imagine that? My own teammate laughing at me. He must have known what was coming. Only one of the 10 goals came from outside the penalty box, so I didn’t have much of a chance.”
The East broke an All-Star record by scoring four times in 1:10 to tie the game at 7. Single goals by Tatu of Dallas and Rod Castro of Baltimore were followed by consecutive goals by Marinaro.
Kim Roentved of Wichita broke a 9-all tie midway through the fourth quarter and started the West on a run which saw it score five unanswered goals.
Dale Mitchell of Tacoma, Danny Pena of Wichita and Fernando Clavijo of St. Louis also scored goals for the West.
The East also got a pair of goals by David Doyle of Dallas, and single goals by Richard Chinapoo of Dallas and Zoran Karic of Cleveland.
The West has won eight of the 11 All-Star games waged between East and West squads.