Sockers Continue to Cook at Home With 6-3 Win Over Spirit

SAN DIEGO —  The Clippers used to complain when the roof leaked at the San Diego Sports Arena.

San Diego State basketball players feel lonely when only 2,000 fans show up to see their home games at the arena.

Poor acoustics and distracting echoes have forced more than one rock musician and thousands of concert-goers to suffer through long evenings at the house on Sports Arena Blvd.

The Sockers have complained about playing on a field that has ice under it when the ice show is in town. Earlier this season, they weren’t too thrilled when neither the lights nor sound systems worked properly.

However, on the whole, the Sockers love the place.

The Sockers’ 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Spirit Saturday night at the arena raised their combined all-time NASL and MISL indoor home record to 94-22 (an .810 winning percentage). If exhibition games are included, the Sockers have won 99 games at home.

Since Jan. 23, 1983, the Sockers are 74-9 (.890) in the Sports Arena.

“You are pleased to play at home when people support you,” Sockers midfielder Juli Veee said. “We have loyal fans and we grew up together.”

By comparison, the Sockers are 58-47 on the road for a (.550) during that same stretch.

Their record on the road is good, but their home record is excellent.

“We have to win at home,” Socker midfielder Jean Willrich said. “Otherwise, nobody would show up. If we lost two or three games, the fans who showed up could share one bottle of champagne.”

A lively crowd of 10,262 fans on Saturday saw the Sockers race out to a 3-0 lead after nine and a half minutes. They led, 3-1 after one quarter, 3-2 at halftime and 5-3 after three quarters.

Branko Segota scored a goal and had two assists after sitting out the last game with a sore right knee. Brian Quinn, Fernando Clavijo, Brian Schmetzer , Veee and Willrich also scored for the Sockers. Goalkeeper Zoltan Toth made 12 saves on 27 shots.

Marcio Leite scored two goals and Godfrey Ingram added another for the Spirit.

Coupled with Wichita’s 6-4 loss to Minnesota Saturday, the Sockers have a four-game edge over the Wings in the Western Division of the MISL.

San Diego’s 10th straight win gave them a sweep of their five-game homestand and an 11-2 mark at home this season.

Not only did the Sockers have the home-court advantage Saturday night, the team with the best record in the MISL (17-6) was facing a Pittsburgh team (11-12) that is 2-10 on the road this season and 5-31 on the road dating back to the beginning of the 1984-85 season.

Pittsburgh is 0-4 at the Sports Arena and has never beaten the Sockers in eight meetings.

Coach Don Popovic’s team was down 3-0 in the first quarter before they got into the rhythm of the game. That’s particularly tough for a team that had scored only 97 goals in 22 games coming into Saturday’s game.

Quinn led off the scoring with a sidewinder right-foot volley from inside the penalty area. He took a long pass from George Katakalidis, balanced the ball on his foot, wheeled and drilled the ball into the far corner of the net.

Willrich’s sharp grounder from the left wing made it 2-0. A couple of defenders--Schmetzer and Clavijo--combined on a set play for the third goal. Clavijo took a centering pass from Schmetzer and headed the ball past goalkeeper David Brcic.

Pittsburgh cut the lead to 3-1 on a power play goal by Leite with just 18 seconds to play in the first quarter. Ingram scored the only goal of the second quarter to make it 3-2 Sockers at halftime.

With San Diego on the power play, Segota blasted a right-footer from the top of the circle to make it 4-2 at 5:23 of the third quarter.

Nine seconds after Leite scored to make it 4-3, Schmetzer notched his first goal of the season to give the Sockers a two-goal cushion. The ball actually went off the foot of Spirit defender Helmut Dudek, but Schmetzer was only too happy to take the credit.

With 6:39 to play, Veee took a lead pass from Segota and chipped the ball into the net to make it 6-3.

Home win No. 94 was quite secure.

“We know the boards at home. We know the glass, and we know the turf,” Sockers Coach Ron Newman said. “That’s worth a goal and the fans are worth a goal.”

And lots of talent is worth at least another goal.