Tacoma Tops Sockers in Weller’s Return
SAN DIEGO — Some friend.
Keith Weller has been out of town barely a month after leaving his assistant’s position with the Sockers to coach the Tacoma Stars. He returned to the San Diego Sports Arena Friday night and watched his new team sink the Sockers, 5-3, in front of 8,403.
And it wasn’t exactly a friendly affair. The Stars (9-11) led, 4-2, late in the fourth quarter. Sockers’ midfielder Brian Quinn scored a sixth-attacker goal with 5:37 remaining, but Preki scored a length-of-the-carpet goal to put the game away a little more than a minute later.
The controversy came minutes later when defender Ralph Black was assessed a two-minute penalty for elbowing midfielder Gerry Gray. An argument ensued. Black went after Gray but was held back by several teammates and referees. Tacoma midfielder David Hoggan came off the bench during the argument and was given a two-minute penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Socker Coach Ron Newman’s version: “Gerry Gray was grabbing hold of Ralph Black, and Ralph just (raised his arm) to get his arm off him.”
Gray’s version: “No, I wasn’t grabbing him. He tried to elbow me. I don’t think that should be allowed in the game. And it hurt his team.”
Black’s version: “No comment.”
The Sockers, now 8-10 and 2 1/2 games behind Dallas in the Western Division of the Major Indoor Soccer League, aren’t making much of a statement on the field. The only positive to this game was Weller’s homecoming victory.
Socker defender George Fernandez was saying before the game that Weller’s departure is good for the MISL. Not for the Sockers, just the league.
“You feel like you want him to win because you don’t want him to fail,” he said.
And so he didn’t.
“It was most exciting coming back,” Weller said. “We scored at the right times and got a big win.”
By the end of the first half, it was beginning to look as if the Sockers and Stars were turning in a repeat performance of their first two games, which went into overtime.
The Sockers struck early. First, forward Zoran Karic did some flashy footwork in front of defender Joey Waters before sending a scorching shot past goalie Cris Vaccaro seven minutes into the game. Then, with 1:55 remaining in the first quarter, the Sockers took advantage of a holding penalty on midfielder Dick McCormick and took a 2-0 lead when midfielder Waad Hirmez scored his first power-play goal of the season.
The Stars were fit to tie in the second quarter. Preki stole the ball from forward Wes Wade and sent a perfect pass between defender Cacho and midfielder Jacques Ladouceur to midfielder David Hoggan, who punched it into the left corner from a few feet in front of the goal with 6:06 remaining in the half. The Stars tied it with 1:48 remaining in the half on a rare mistake by goalie Victor Nogueira. Defender Kevin Crow passed back to Nogueira, who placed the ball on the carpet and attempted to pass it back to Crow. Kia stepped in front. Header. Goal.
After a smooth first quarter, the Sockers spent the rest of the evening stumbling over their missed opportunities and tripping on mental errors.
Example: Crow took a pass from Branko Segota a few feet in front of the Tacoma goal but struck the ball off Vaccaro. Another example. Defender Ralph Black was whistled for sending Kia into the boards 8:46 into the third quarter and sent to the penalty box for two minutes. Newman said he didn’t agree with the call, but the Stars capitalized three seconds later when Kia scored a power play goal with his heel off an assist from Preki.
McCormick gave the Stars a 4-2 advantage with 1:56 remaining in the third quarter, scoring the first goal of his MISL career off an assist from midfielder Gerry Gray.
