It Only Takes 45 Seconds for the Sockers to Have a Blast : Segota’s Goal Keys 6-4 Win

SAN DIEGO —  In the same way that a mammoth home run can rattle and stun a pitcher, Socker midfielder Branko Segota scored a goal that turned the complexion of San Diego’s 6-4 win over the Baltimore Blast Sunday night.

The Sockers trailed their Major Indoor Soccer League rivals, 2-1, with 2:43 to play in the second quarter when Segota, marked tightly by Paul Kitson, dribbled the ball deep into the left corner and lined a right-footer with the outside part of his right toe.

Lining an accurate shot with the outside part of one’s toe is no easy feat. Placing it perfectly in the high far corner of the net is:

- “A world-class goal,” Blast Coach Kenny Cooper said. “When he is one on one, he’s awesome. How do you stop something like that?”

- “A brilliant solo effort,” Socker Coach Ron Newman said. “It stunned them for the moment.”

Sixteen seconds after Segota’s goal, Hugo Perez blasted a 25-footer past goalkeeper Scott Manning to make it 3-2. Then, 29 seconds later, Jacques Ladouceur took a beautiful pass from Juli Veee and easily tapped the ball in the net to make it 4-2.

That’s three Socker goals in 45 seconds.

“A stretch like that has got to give a team the willies,” said Veee, who assisted on the three goals during that stretch and on Brian Quinn’s goal in the first quarter.

Artistically, Segota’s goal was “worth the price of admission,” according to Quinn.

Psychologically, it was devastating to a Blast team that had won six straight, including four in a row on the 10-day trip it concluded in San Diego.

“We play a great first period and three-quarters, and we were frustrating them,” Cooper said. “Then they explode. That’s the third game they’ve done that to us. They are the only team in the world that can do that.”

Newman agreed that 45-second hat trick was undoubtedly the key point in the match.

“After we score a goal like the one by Branko, the other team often lets down,” he said. “They can’t get their concentration and players drop their heads. And we go bam, bam, bam.”

The first bam is worth mentioning again.

“If I shot the ball with my left foot, it is a sure block,” said Segota, who played with a sore right knee and foot. “The only thing I had left was to flick it to the right post. It was something that happens at the spur of the moment. You can’t practice it.”

Suddenly, an inspired San Diego team was on its way to tying a team record of eight straight wins. The Sockers won eight in a row in the North American Soccer League in 1983-84 and in the MISL last season.

Coming into Sunday’s game, played in front of 10,372 fans at the San Diego Sports Arena, the Blast was the only team in the league to hold a regular-season edge over San Diego. The team the Sockers defeated four games to one in the MISL championship series last spring beat San Diego 3-2 in overtime in Baltimore in the season opener to take a 6-2 edge.

“This was the best win of the season,” Newman said. “I thought we dominated the game.”

San Diego got third-quarter goals from Perez and Jean Willrich to make it 6-2 entering the final quarter. Baltimore countered with two late scores by Dean Kelly and Tim Wittman, but the game had been decided considerably earlier.

“They (Sockers) are a magnificent team,” Cooper said. “They are a better team than us. They have more depth. Just when you think you know the answers, they change the questions on us.

“For us to win, everything has to go right. They are the Mercedes and we’re just one of the Cadillacs.”

Said Newman: “I’d rather be a Rolls-Royce.”