Splash Marks Debut by Beating Las Vegas : Soccer: It scores six consecutive goals to defeat the Dustdevils, 7-4. : Ervine has three goals.

The Splash showed 4,721 fans at The Pond of Anaheim that it was composed, deliberate and skilled. It also showed it was lucky.

The Splash scored six consecutive goals to defeat Las Vegas, 7-4, Friday night in its Continental Indoor Soccer League debut.

The Splash trailed by three goals 12 minutes into the third quarter but rallied with six consecutive goals, including two by Dale Ervine in the fourth quarter, that gave the former indoor soccer scoring champion the hat trick. He also scored the first goal in franchise history to tie the score, 1-1.

The late dividends were a reward for an evening of frustration despite pounding away at Las Vegas goalkeeper Brett Phillips, who finished with 20 saves.

Splash Coach George Fernandez’s fears that his team would get caught up in the excitement of a league opener were well-founded.

“We were very erratic, sporadic,” Fernandez said of his team’s first-half performance. “We were trying to do too much individually. We were trying to win the game every time we got the ball.”

They got their shots. And they missed--a few inches here, a few inches there. The Splash outshot the Dustdevils, 42-17.

“We got better and better as the game got longer,” Fernandez said. “We started getting a little more into the game because we weren’t operating on adrenaline.

“We’re going to win the majority of our games if we play like we did in the second half.”

The Splash took its first lead 6 minutes 22 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Ervine’s goal from the right side--after Paul Ratcliffe’s nifty pass from the top of the goalie arc--gave the Splash its first lead, 5-4. It came just after the crowd began to make noise for the first time without help from the public address announcer.

Ratcliffe scored five minutes later, and Ervine capped scoring off a pass from Denis Hamlett.

Armando Valdivia began the comeback 12:08 into the third quarter, and Rod Castro scored at the 13:12 mark.

Hamlett tied the game 27 seconds into the fourth.

The Dustdevils, on the strength of three goals in a row, had a 4-1 lead 3:38 into the third quarter.

The Splash dominated the first quarter and outshot the Dustdevils, 12-2, but neither team scored.

Branko Segota gave Las Vegas a 1-0 lead 4:03 into the second quarter with a left-footed crossing shot inside the far post.

Notes

The Splash plays host to San Jose tonight. It will be the expansion Grizzlies’ first game. . . . Portland defeated Detroit, 7-5, Friday in front of a CISL record 14,258 fans at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Mich. San Diego defeated Monterrey, 10-7, in front of a sellout crowd of 3,500 in Mexico . . . CISL Commissioner Ron Weinstein attended the Splash’s game. He said he wasn’t surprised by the attendance. “Knowing the track record of Southern California, I think they’re taking a show-me approach,” he said. “Right now it’s just an exposure problem, and it’s going to take a company like Ogden (Facility Management) to get the product out there. The Southern California area is critical for the league. We definitely need a Los Angeles-Orange County presence. I think it’s imperative to have a market here. It’s the No. 1 market for soccer in the country. If it can’t work in Orange County, the league can’t have too much chance for success.”

The Mighty Ducks sent a floral arrangement to Splash with a soccer ball as the centerpiece. . . . The Splash’s games originally scheduled for July 20 and 22 have been moved to July 19 and 21 to accommodate the rescheduled Barbra Streisand concerts that were postponed in May.