Lazers Squander 3-Goal Lead, Lose, 8-4

After building a 4-1 halftime lead, the Lazers fell apart in the second half Thursday night and were beaten, 8-4, by the Las Vegas Americans before a Forum crowd of 4,569.

The loss, combined with the San Diego Sockers’ victory over the Cleveland Force, left the Lazers (15-8) 1 1/2 games behind the Sockers in the Major Indoor Soccer League’s Western Division.

It also left Lazer Coach Peter Wall fuming.

“It’s a disgrace,” Wall said afterward. “I don’t mind losing. But there’s a way to lose, and that wasn’t it.”

The Lazers’ way to lose against the 9-12 Americans was to blow the 4-1 lead by getting outshot, 24-7, in the second half and, 32-17, in the game.

To the Lazers’ credit, three of the Americans’ goals came after Los Angeles had pulled goalie Mike Mahoney in favor of the extra attacker. Julie Veee got two of the empty-net goals and finished the night with a hat trick.

Some fine play in the nets by Mahoney and Las Vegas’ Keith Van Oren resulted in a scoreless first quarter, but the Lazers dominated the second period.

First, defender Cacho, acquired from Argentina’s Boca Juniors two weeks ago, scored his second goal in three game with the Lazers just over three minutes into the second quarter.

Then, with 4:47 gone, Beto notched his 13th goal of the season from almost the identical spot to make it 2-0.

The Americans cut the margin to one when Yilmaz Orhan fed the ball in deep to forward Fred Grgurev, who knocked it past Mahoney.

Less than a minute later, however, Alan Kelley gave a perfect pass to a sliding Stuart Lee, who tapped the ball by Van Eron to restore the Lazers’ two-goal lead. The goal was Lee’s 21st of the season, increasing his team lead to five over Willie Molano.

The Lazers made it 4-1 just 18 seconds before halftime as Gus Mokalis picked up an assist on Batata’s 11th goal with a nice cross-court header. Batata took it on one bounce and beat Van Eron.

From there on, the Americans took command.