Cleveland Stands Up to Sockers : Soccer: Crunch comes back from four-goal deficit to defeat the Sockers, 7-6, in overtime.

The Sockers found out just how precarious their perch as defending champions is Tuesday night at the Sports Arena when the Cleveland Crunch refused to be intimidated by a four-goal, fourth-quarter deficit and rallied to send the game into overtime.

The Crunch had all the momentum going into the extra period, and seven minutes 40 seconds later they also had a victory, 7-6, in front of 9,468.

Rudy Pikuzinski got the game-winner, his second of the game, finishing a quick counter attack as the Crunch caught the Sockers cheating on offense--leaving no one back to guard against the Crunch’s lethal fast break.

With the victory, Cleveland improved to .500 at 18-18 and claimed sole possession of third place in the Major Soccer League with four games remaining. They are a half-game ahead of Wichita. What’s more they are the only team with a winning record against the Sockers (4-2).

The Sockers (25-12) blew a chance of claiming home-field advantage throughout the playoffs with three games remaining. Now they must be concerned not so much with their magic number, which remains at 1, but rather with their ability to claim a 10th indoor title in 11 years without two stalwarts, midfielder Brian Quinn and defender Ben Collins.

Quinn left midway through the season to take an assignment with the U.S. national team. Collins was lost to a knee injury last week. Both brought the kind of leadership that was sorely missing Tuesday.

It was a game the Sockers led at halftime, 4-1, and a game in which they outshot the visitors, 30-4, in the first two quarters.

Those 30 shots are a season high and the four against the fewest allowed this season. It was the third time in club history that a Sockers goalie did not make a save in a half.

It was a game everyone thought was over after 30 minutes. Even the Associated Press erroneously reported a 5-2 Sockers’ victory--the wire service later made a correction.

However, the hosts apparently believed the first report and decided they would lay their cards on the table at halftime.

They quickly learned they aren’t the only ones in the seven-team Major Soccer League with a few aces.

Cleveland’s Hector Marinaro scored his second goal of the game 7:07 into the final quarter. Three more Crunch goals followed, the last being kicked in by David Hoggan with 55 seconds still to tick off.

It was Marinaro who gave his team some hope going into the locker room at halftime. Coming off the end boards and turning on defender Jacques Ladouceur, Marinaro squirted a dribbler toward goal that goalie Victor Nogueira fumbled into the net with seven seconds left in the half.

At the time, Marinaro’s goal seemed to lack importance. The Sockers were playing better than they had in more than a month, combining a precise passing touch with their speed.

But in reality it gave the Crunch some confidence that showed up in a reversal of the statistics in the third and fourth quarters.

The Crunch managed to get 13 shots off in that time while limiting the Sockers to 15.

The 53 shots aimed by the Sockers eclipses by one the team record for shots in a game.

No doubt it’s a record the Sockers gladly would trade for a victory. As the playoffs approach, the Sockers have lost three of their past four. This time they wasted first-half goals from Paul Dougherty, Paul Wright, Tim Wittman and Thompson Usiyan.

In the second half, John Kerr and Kevin Crow also scored for the Sockers, Crow’s goal giving the hosts a 6-2 advantage with 9:17 remaining.

Socker Notes

Last week’s silent auction of the Sockers’ St. Patrick’s Day green uniforms netted $9,135 for Ronald McDonald’s Children Charities. Team officials were hoping to earn around $2,000 from the uniforms, which were worn only once. Victor Nogueira’s uniformj fetched the highest price, $850. The lowest was Zico Doe’s, $295. In between were: Kevin Crow, $650; Wes Wade, $605; David Banks, $600; Terry Woodberry, $575; Brian Quinn, $565; Tim Wittman, $525; Paul Wright, $475; Alex Golovnia, $459; Ben Collins, $450; John Kerr, $425; Jacques Ladouceur, $400; Paul Dougherty, $350; Scott Geraghty, $350; Thompson Usiyan, $350; Alex Khapsalis, $335; Jimmy McGeough, $310; Gus Castaneda, $300 and Mirko Castillo, $300. . . . Tuesday night was the last chance to vote for the fans’ favorite player, the final tally of which is expected to mirror the uniform bidding. If it does, it will end Wade’s two-year reign as the recipient. . . . Crow is sneaking up among the blocked-shots league leaders. He entered Tuesday’s game third with 71, trailing Baltimore’s Iain Fraser (77) and Dallas’ Wes McLeod (75).