Splash Wins at Less Than Full Strength : Soccer: Even though three starters are out, team rallies in fourth quarter to beat the Sockers, 8-5, at San Diego.

Defender Sean Bowers was in a church getting married. Defender Shane Hickson was on the bench with a twisted ankle. Forward Rod Castro was at home sick.

The Splash was down three starters in its season opener Saturday against Southern Division rival San Diego.

It didn’t matter.

Despite showing the effects of absenteeism early on, the Splash scored five fourth-quarter goals in an 8-5 Continental Indoor Soccer League victory over the Sockers in front of an announced crowd of 7,622 at the San Diego Sports Arena.

The Splash goes for victory No. 2 at 7:05 tonight against Portland (1-0).

Two of the Splash’s final four goals came in the final 1 minute 6 seconds against San Diego’s sixth attacker offense, so the final score was deceiving.

But it didn’t matter.

Raffaele Ruotolo tied the score, 4-4, early in the fourth quarter, Sam George scored a goal in his first game in one year exactly, and Ruotolo put away a shot from point-blank range with 2:53 remaining to make it 6-5.

“[Doug Neely] took a shot [from the near post] that was a little off-balance and the ball bounced back to me,” said Ruotolo, who also extended his indoor soccer record for consecutive games with an assist to 28.

Neely, who made the All-CISL team last year playing mostly at midfielder, was moved to the back because of the absence of Bowers and Hickson. Neely scored twice and had two assists.

“Collectively, we made some mistakes, but we didn’t have any exhibition games so no one knew what to expect,” he said. “We didn’t play great, but we worked well as a team.”

Even though the Splash was dominated in the first half, the score was tied, 2-2, at halftime.

Dale Ervine scored three goals for the Splash and also had the 200th assist of his career.

“To be honest, we weren’t sure where we were without a preseason game,” Ervine said. “I think we proved at times what we were capable of doing.”

The Splash played well in spurts and the Sockers missed three open-net shots, but that’s the nature of the game.

“To win this game and know we still have guys out--I have to be happy with the effort and the outcome,” Splash Coach George Fernandez said. “These are the guys that have to prove they can do it if there are injuries, and they did. The veterans stepped up and the role players did their job. That’s a sign of a good team. But we still have a lot of work to do.”

San Diego’s John Olu Molomo, last year’s rookie of the year, played despite a one-year suspension handed down in March by the California Soccer Assn. because of an altercation with a referee in a game. The case is on appeal.

Molomo, who had 10 goals--including five in one game--and an assist last year against the Splash, picked up where he left off, scoring three times.