Sockers Outlast Blast : Sockers: Kevin Crow takes advantage of Baltimore rookie's mistake to win in overtime.

By JOHN GEIS

April 15, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

BALTIMORE — Jean Harbor, a Baltimore Blast rookie, made an impression on two Sockers with his physical power Tuesday night, but a third took advantage of Harbor’s “rookie” mistake to give the Sockers a 5-4 victory in overtime.

Kevin Crow scored five minutes into overtime to give the Sockers a 2-1 lead in the Major Soccer League semifinal series.

Game 4 is scheduled for Thursday (4:05 p.m., PDT) here.

Socker defender Alex Golovnia had taken a rocket of a shot by Harbor on the chin in the second quarter and Jimmy McGeough had limped off the field after getting kicked in the right leg by Harbor in the fourth quarter.

Obviously, Crow has the fondest memory of the evening with Harbor. In fact, he might want to send the rookie with the wicked shot a thank-you note.

Tuesday’s lesson, as taught by Crow, was . . . Never, Never, Never Leave Your Man In His Offensive Zone.

Harbor did, and Crow took a crossing pass from Golovnia, dribbled once and fired a low shot that writhed between the near post and diving goalie Cris Vaccaro to end the game.

“I cheated a little bit,” Harbor said, mumbling and looking down at the floor. “He’s my man at that end of the field, and I didn’t cover him. He gets the ball and shoots it inside the post.”

“Jean is still learning the indoor game,” Baltimore Coach Kenny Cooper said. “And he’s still making mistakes. But he won’t make that mistake again.”

But it really wasn’t that easy for Crow, who played in spite of spraining his right ankle Friday late in Game 2. His other ankle was already sore.

“It’s one of those things,” Crow said. “There’s not as much strength as usual (in the ankles), but I have to go up and hit it. It’s the only thing you can do at this point of the season.”

Crow’s goal won the game for the Sockers, but his teammates were giving him credit for something else--stopping Harbor.

Socker Coach Ron Newman altered his lineup a bit for Game 3 and had Crow switch with Terry Woodberry so one of them could mark Harbor at all times. Newman’s sudden paranoia was sparked by the three goals Harbor scored in Game 2.

In Game 3, though, it seemed the Sockers made an impression of their own.

“The key to the game,” goalie Victor Nogueira said, “was Terry Woodberry and Kevin Crow. They marked Jean Harbor so tight he couldn’t do anything. The two of those guys should share player of the game because they took (Harbor) right out of it.”

In this game, Harbor had no goals and one assist.

Crow went shoulder-to-shoulder with Harbor all night, but Woodberry was a bit less subtle. He treated Harbor more like a blocking sled and once was given a two-minute penalty for upending him.

The Sockers needed to do something about Harbor because of his speed, his cannon shot and his size (6-foot-1, 195 pounds). By way of comparison, Crow comes in at 6-1, 175, and Woodberry at 6-0, 175.

“They were a lot more physical,” Harbor said. “I think that was their game plan.”

While that was obvious, Newman said the Sockers didn’t decide to play rougher than they had previously. Instead, he said they reacted to how the Blast played Games 1 and 2.

“They push and they shove,” Newman said. “And we decided we have to match it or we’re not going to survive.”

Newman doesn’t have to worry about his team keeping up its intensity.

“I enjoy playing physical,” said Woodberry, who is usually more offensive-minded. “I’ve played football and I’ve played rugby, so it’s my nature.”

Besides the more physical play, Game 3 contrasted with the first two in that the Sockers didn’t give up any cheap goals because of defensive blunders and they didn’t have to come from behind.

A fourth defender, David Banks, is responsible for the former, and midfielder Paul Dougherty for the latter.

Banks, who was at least indirectly responsible for five of Baltimore’s goals in the first two games, put his bad streak behind him. And Dougherty scored the Sockers’ first two goals Tuesday.

“It was good to see David Banks on top of his game,” Newman said. “The way he was going, he could have been swallowed by the earth.”

Banks said it was simply a matter of forgetting about past mistakes.

“I just hit a rough patch where I couldn’t hit anything right,” Banks said. “Finally, I just said, ‘Forget it and get on with it.’ Erich (assistant coach Erich Geyer) had a lot to do with that. He got my confidence up a lot.”

After Dougherty scored his second goal two and a half minutes into the third quarter, midfielder Jacques Ladouceur put the Sockers up 3-1, redirecting a shot taken by Banks from the right point.

The Blast tied it on third-quarter goals from Emil Dragicevic and Iain Fraser. Despite stealing the momentum, the Blast couldn’t take the lead.

Woodberry took care of that with a shot from behind the red line that made its way past Vaccaro with six seconds remaining in the third. Prior to the shot, there was some question whether Woodberry settled the ball by batting it down with a hand.

It stood 4-3 until 28 seconds remained in regulation. The Blast had a sixth-attacker and were on a power-play because Thompson Usiyan had been given two minutes for obstructing Harbor. That gave former Socker Rod Castro a lot of of room and he used it, shooting from behind the red line and bouncing a shot past two defenders and under Nogueira.

“It went through a lot of traffic and dipped at the end,” Nogueira said. “It was a terrible goal.”