Sockers’ Slump Continues as Wichita Gets a Victory : Soccer: Sockers back into home-field advantage in MSL playoffs when Baltimore defeats Dallas.

There are two ways to win a regular-season championship, the Sockers learned this weekend.

One way is to do it yourself. The other is to let the Baltimore Blast do it for you, which was the route the Sockers took this season.

When the Blast defeated second-place Dallas Friday night, the Sockers, nine-time champions, were assured of home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Whether they will get to exploit that benefit fully became questionable Saturday when they suffered their fourth loss in five games as the Wichita Wings inflicted a 7-4 defeat in front of 9,161 at the Kansas Coliseum.

The Wings (18-20) lowered their magic number to clinch a playoff spot to one over Tacoma and Baltimore.

Chico Borja was the decisive factor, scoring three goals and setting up three others for the Wings.

Socker Coach Ron Newman, however, remained unimpressed.

“I didn’t even realize he had a hat trick and three assists,” Newman said. “It wasn’t like he was terrorizing us. We had a couple giveaways, and on those giveaways it was our players who should have been given the assist.”

Gone unnoticed was that Victor Nogueira tied the MSL record for most consecutive games played by a goaltender. It was his 52nd start in a row, equaling the streak of St. Louis’ Slobo Ilijevski, who did it over a two-season span in 1982-83.

Nogueira might want to forget this one--he finished with three fewer saves than goals allowed.

But it wasn’t Nogueira who had a bad night--it was his teammates.

“We’re making some grave errors when we have possession of the ball,” Newman said.

Even so, Thompson Usiyan broke loose for three goals, the last coming with 2 1/2 minutes left in the third to pull the Sockers within two at 5-3.

“But Tomo was showing signs of frustration because he felt the other lads weren’t giving their best,” Newman said. “We need more of that sort of professionalism on the field.”

Instead, play has become somewhat lackadaisical, an understandable reaction from a team that earlier in the season won 11 in a row and became the first MSL team to clinch a playoff spot.

“In the back of their minds, they’ve won it,” Newman said. “And they think they’ve got nothing to play for. And the other teams are going at it like animals. We just can’t get that same attitude.”

That has caused a dilemma for Newman. Originally the coach wanted to use Saturday’s season finale against Dallas to give his reserves some game experience, which would help if any injuries sidelined regulars in the playoffs. Now Newman might keep his first-stringers in to try to regain some momentum.

Socker Notes

Midfielder Paul Dougherty left the game in the final quarter with a hamstring injury. The Sockers can ill afford to lose Dougherty, their second-leading goal scorer, while they prepare for the playoffs already without midfielder Brian Quinn and defender Ben Collins. Coach Ron Newman said the injury was minor.