Lazers Get Taken by Force, 7-4
The Los Angeles Lazers reached the midway point of the 1984-85 Major Indoor Soccer League season Monday night and dropped a 7-4 decision to the Cleveland Force in front of 4,131 at the Forum.
The loss, the Lazers’ third in four games, dropped them 2 1/2 games behind the idle San Diego Sockers in the Western Division and left the third-year team with a 15-9 record.
In the previous years, that record was only dreamed about by what was once the league’s worst team, Coach Peter Wall said. But after watching Force midfielders Keith Furphy score four goals and Finn Kai Haaskivi add a hat trick, he was in no mood to celebrate.
Without much help from his defense, goalie Mike Mahoney gave up the seven goals. This follows Thursday’s night loss to Las Vegas when he allowed five scores before being pulled in an 8-4 loss.
Look for South Torrance’s Tim Harris to start one of the upcoming games, something Wall wanted to do against Cleveland.
“I think it’s definitely time for a shake-up,” Wall said. “We went so long with this lineup, but now we need some new blood. I was going to play Harris tonight, but he had the flu.”
A fast-paced first half got under way with two goals in the first 33 seconds.
Furphy, positioned in front of the Lazers’ goal, took a pass from Haaskivi with 11 seconds gone to put the Force ahead, 1-0, but the Lazers came back to tie it 22 seconds later when Willie Molano beat goalie Chris Vaccaro, with Gus Mokalis getting an assist.
The Force , coming off two straight losses on the road, also struck quickly to open the second quarter as Mike Sweeney passed to Haaskivi, who scored the first of his two first-half goals. They went up, 3-1, with 5:31 remaining in the first half when Haaskivi was left unguarded in front of Mahoney on a power play.
The Lazers came back to make it 3-2 at halftime when Alan Kelley scored unassisted with 1:43 to play.
It was a well-played first half but also a rough one, particularly for the Lazers. Mahoney was temporarily shaken after making a face save to prevent a possible goal, on a blast by Haaskivi, and Lee Cornwell was kicked in the face late in the first quarter when he tried to head the ball at the same time Peter Ward of the Force was trying to kick it.
Neither Mahoney nor Cornwell left the game, but Poli Garcia did after suffering an eye injury. Garcia, the Lazers’ leader in points who was also on the bench for most of the last game against Las Vegas because of the flu, was taken to Centinela Hospital Medical Center. He will be hospitalized four or five days and is expected to be out of action for three weeks.
