Tacoma Cools Off Sockers : Soccer: Struggling Stars get early lead to end losing ways against San Diego.
It had to figure.
The Sockers were one of the hottest teams in the Major Soccer League, and it looked like rigor mortis had begun setting in on the Tacoma Stars--they had lost 13 of 19 and been shut out 7-0 in their last game at Baltimore.
It was a sure recipe for a Sockers’ victory, even at the Tacoma Dome, but results rarely follow form in this league.
Perhaps that’s why Tacoma recorded a 7-4 victory Friday night against a Socker team that scarcely resembled the one that had beaten the Stars three times in four meetings.
The Stars bolted to a 5-0 lead, saw the Sockers score four sixth-attacker goals in the first 10:09 of the fourth quarter, and put away the Sockers with a pair of open-net goals in the 12th minute.
The first of the deciding goals, at 11:22, was a spectacular steal-and-slide volley from 110 feet by Freddie Thompson. The second was a 150-foot half volley by Billy Crook that ended most of the drama and brought Victor Nogueira back into goal for San Diego.
“They came to play much more keen than we did,” Socker Coach Ron Newman said. “That seems to be our problem when we come up here. We just don’t seem to be on our game.”
Newman knew the opportunity had come and gone.
“We had our chance when it was 5-4. They had two good-fortune goals on two desperate sort of touches.”
Thompson’s key goal came as he split San Diego’s Branko Segota and Paul Wright, the sixth attacker.
“It was our ball, and Branko and Paul hesitated, each thinking the other was going to get the ball. That was so lucky for them. They were (bleeping) bricks at the time.”
Said Thompson, “I anticipated the ball coming from (Brian Quinn) into the middle. I ended up splitting Branko and Paul. They thought I would shoot right away, but I took one touch and then shot. At that, Paul almost caught up with it.”
San Diego, down 2-0 in the first half, seemed punchless as Tacoma added three goals. The first was a goal by Ralph Black from 40 feet out on left wing, set up by a square pass from Greg Ion.
After the game got a little out of hand, Tacoma scored a power play goal at 13:40 to make it 4-0.
First Tacoma’s Walter Schmetzer, in a retaliatory move, kicked Paul Dougherty and was given two minutes and a yellow card. However, the Stars killed the power play, and Schmetzer was elbowed by Quinn.
Crook got the power-play goal 40 seconds later, bouncing in a diagonal pass from Black from near the right post.
At 14:11, the Sockers’ Alex Golovnia was penalized for an intentional handball, and 40 seconds into the fourth quarter, Crook’s diagonal pass found the outstretched foot of Mark Karpun at the far post for a 5-0 margin.
The Sockers finally scored at 3:56 into the fourth quarter with the help of their own power play--and a sixth attacker. On the restart after Tacoma’s Crook was called for tripping, Waad Hirmez hit Quinn and he booted a high drive inside the right post.
Segota clicked with San Diego still using a sixth attacker at 7:48 with a low drive from 15 feet out on left wing.
Hirmez connected from almost the same spot at 8:17 to make it a game at 5-3.
Then Rod Castro ripped in a 25 footer from on top to close it to 5-4 at 10:09.
San Diego had outscored Tacoma 6-0 in the first quarter and 12-6 in the first half of four prior meetings. But this night Tacoma jumped to the 2-0 lead after 9:59 of the game, and made it stand up until intermission.
Tacoma’s first goal was at 3:21. The Stars’ Gary Heale came up with a loose ball in the midfield, hit Thompson alone on right wing, and Thompson’s diagonal pass found Karpun at the left post for a tap-in.
It reached 2-0 in the midst of a Socker’s power play. Karpun came up with the ball in his defensive end and fed Ion on a breakaway. Nogueira handled Ion’s shot out of the box and Tacoma was awarded a shootout.
Steve Kinsey’s shot hit the left post, but he beat Nogueira to the rebound and his follow shot just beat the time limit of five seconds.
“There was no way that was a goal,” sad Newman. “I head the whistle blow just as he kicked it . . . And he has to get the ball over the line before the time ends.”
It was just the second time San Diego had been shut out in the first half in 37 games.
Socker Notes
San Diego may have lost Dougherty for a while with a knee injury. He was being examined by a local doctor after the game. It could be a ligament tear . . . The Sockers are down to five players who have played in every game: David Banks, Kevin Crow, Alex Golovnia, Waad Hirmez and Jacques Ladouceur . . . The goalkeepers are now allowed to wear uniforms of their choice (with companies they have personal contacts with) after an arbiter’s ruling this week. Prior to that, they had to uniforms supplied by Bike, the official MSL supplier.
