Sockers Hand L.A. 6-5 Loss
It’s as if certain team-oriented athletes are not destined to achieve individual glory.
Wins are fine, but records are out of their reach.
Socker goalkeeper Jim Gorsek is a perfect example.
Playing with bruised ribs, Gorsek started Friday night’s game, a 6-5 win against the Lazers, hoping to move closer to the league record for the lowest goals-against average for a goalkeeper.
Slobo Ilijevski of St. Louis set the mark with a 3.67 in the 1983-84 season. Gorsek entered the game with a league-leading 3.70 average and needed to give up three or fewer goals in 60 minutes of play in order break Ilijevski’s record.
Gorsek gave up three goals in the first half to raise his goals-against average to 3.76.
By not playing Friday night, Baltimore goalkeeper Keith Van Eron regained the goals-against average lead with a 3.73 mark. Van Eron is expected to play tonight in Baltimore’s showdown against Pittsburgh. The winner gains the final playoff berth in the Eastern Division.
After the game, a very disappointed Gorsek said he will not play tonight in the season finale against the Dallas Sidekicks. Gorsek said he feels well enough to play, but it is Zoltan Toth’s turn to start.
If Gorsek played 30 minutes against Dallas without allowing a goal, he would edge Ilijevski for the record, 3.6687 to 3.6729.
“I will not play at all,” said Gorsek.
Toth played the second half Friday and picked up the win.
Therefore, Gorsek has no chance at the record and has to wait to see what Van Eron does in terms of the league goals-against average title.
“I am very disappointed about what happened,” Gorsek said. “Me and Zoalie can only do so much. We (the team)got beat to the ball on those scoring plays.
“They (records) were goals I wanted to get, but it’s a team effort. In the end, if you win the championship, it is all worth it.”
There he goes again. Gorsek is the ultimate team player. He wasn’t picked for the All-Star team this season and didn’t win the MVP award in the playoffs last season even though he was 7-1.
All he does is win. Gorsek, not involved in Friday night’s decision, is 18-2 (90%). That is the highest winning percentage by a goalkeeper, breaking Shep Messing’s mark of 87.5% set in 1980-81 with the New York Arrows.
When Gorsek left the game, the focus switched to the physical play between the teams. It was appropriate that the Sockers watched the movie “Commando” on their luxury bus trip from San Diego to Los Angeles Friday afternoon.
“ ‘Commando’ put us in the mood,” said Socker midfielder Brian Quinn.
The fact that the Sockers traveled to the game in a bus which had two television monitors is a lot more surprising than the final score.
On March 2, the Sockers took a MexiCoach bus which got a flat tire both coming and going from the game at the Forum.
They traveled in style this time.
And despite resting four regulars--Juli Veee, Cha Cha Namdar, Kevin Crow and Gary Collier--the Sockers raised their record to 35-12.
Raffaele Ruotolo scored two goals and Ade Coker, Hugo Perez, Branko Segota and Tim Bartro added one apiece for the team with the best record in the Major Indoor Soccer League.
Playing in front of 6,602 fans on Fan Appreciation Night, the Lazers got two goals each from Greg Ion and Oscar Albuquerque and one from Cle Kooiman.
It was the final game for 35-year-old Lazer goalkeeper Mike Mahoney, who announced last month that he would retire at the end of the season.
