San Diego Puts an End to Splash’s Win Streak

Moises Garduno scored three minutes into overtime to give San Diego an 8-7 victory over the Splash Friday at the Sports Arena.

The loss stopped the Splash’s three-game winning streak in the Continental Indoor Soccer League, and assured it will not have a home-arena advantage in the playoffs’ first round.

The Splash (14-13) remained in second place in the Western Division, three games behind the division champion Sockers (17-10), because Sacramento (13-14) lost to Washington.

The Splash lost in familiar fashion. It played well for a while, then blew a 5-2 halftime lead by giving up four consecutive goals.

“I don’t think it’s a step back,” Coach Ian Fulton said, “but we can’t make those mistakes in the playoffs.

“Those mistakes” were costly. The Splash had the league’s best power-play defense, killing 66% of its opportunities, but surrendered two power-play goals early in the second half; the Sockers were only 37% on power-play chances this season but made two of four chances Friday.

“We gave away two stupid penalties and they scored on both of them,” Fulton said. “We started arguing with them, retaliating, and then would get caught by the officials.”

Doug Neely and Dale Ervine each scored twice--Ervine’s final goal giving the Splash a 7-6 lead with 7:40 left, but the Sockers tied it 50 seconds later.