Sockers Find Losing Can Be Lonely Experience : Soccer: Cleveland Crunch tie series with 4-3 victory. Just 6,996 fans show up for the game.

SAN DIEGO — Here are the essentials from Game 2 of the MSL championship series, played Sunday night at the Sports Arena.

Final score: Cleveland 4, San Diego 3.

Game-winning goal: Dave Hoggan scored two-and-a-half minutes into the fourth quarter after taking the ball off the foot of Socker defender Ben Collins just in front of the goal. He then slipped it by goalie Victor Nogueira.

Series standing: With the victory, Cleveland ties the series, 1-1.

Next game: Friday in Cleveland.

Does anyone care: Apparently not in San Diego. Only 6,996 showed up. In Cleveland, a crowd of 16,000 is expected.

That might be what Socker Coach Ron Newman had on his mind when he walked into the interview room following the game.

Newman took a deep breath, sat down, stared at the floor and quietly muttered an expletive.

Still looking at the floor, Newman spelled the word.

Known for a hot temper after losses, Newman was uncharacteristically subdued. The ninth championship ring he wants so badly just became all the more elusive.

Not only is Game 3 in Cleveland, but so too are Games 4 and 5. The Sockers, then, must win at least once in the Coliseum, which has the longest field in the league and is one that seems to wear out the Sockers, to have a chance for another banner.

Of the three games the Sockers played there this year, Cleveland won two and scored 28 goals.

The Sockers, who finished the regular season with the MSL’s best record, suddenly appear to be facing the Minnesota North Stars.

Seems the Crunch has learned how to lasso the Socker offense. Goalie P.J. Johns, whose stellar performance was being credited by nearly everyone as the difference, explained the strategy:

“We were defending further away from our goal tonight,” Johns said. “And when we do that, it gives me a lot more time to see things and play the angles.”

How well the strategy worked, Crunch Coach Trevor Dawkins said, “could be seen in the number of shots. We went from allowing 46 (in Game 1) to allowing 29. That’s because the defenders and midfielders were marking much tighter.”

Besides the 29 shots, the three goals allowed were the fewest scored by the Sockers in a playoff game this year.

Still, Sockers players weren’t about to give full credit to the Crunch. They wanted some blame, too.

The Sockers cited two deficiencies that played into Cleveland’s well-orchestrated defense. Coach Newman explained the first:

“I thought we had a bad spell just before the half when our legs disappeared,” he said. “You could see the game get away from us when we stopped running.”

But such lapses have been something of a Socker trademark this year.

“That’s been our problem all year,” said Wes Wade, who scored two goals in a 29-second span late in the third quarter to tie the game, 3-3. “The whole year, we’d get the lead, slack off and the other team would catch up, and we’d raise our game again.”

Wade also spoke of Sunday’s other shortcoming:

“We just weren’t finishing like we can,” he said. “P.J. made a lot of good saves, but there were a lot of other opportunities that we just missed.”

Perhaps Johns’ best save of the night came with seven minutes remaining and Cleveland clinging to a one-goal lead.

Brian Quinn got loose just inside the right part of the penalty area, saw an opening and shot.

Johns threw his hands up in front of his face. The shot deflected off his right elbow and away from the goal.

“Sometimes you just have to have position and sometimes you just have to have things go your way,” Johns said.

The Sockers took the initial lead a minute and a half into the second quarter when Branko Segota lined a shot from the top of the box past Johns.

But Cleveland took a 2-1 lead into halftime with two late goals, the first coming from Michael King, who took a pass from Hector Marinaro at the right post; and the second coming from Marinaro, who took a pass from Zoran Karic at the left post with two minutes left in the half.

Karic made it 3-1 some 11-and-a-half minutes into the third quarter after taking a side-board pass from Marinaro in the midfield and dribbling in alone on Nogueira. Nogueira was overmatched by the league’s second-leading scorer.

Just over a minute later, Wade picked up his first goal after taking a pass from Quinn just to the right of the penalty area. Wade first stopped the action by settling the ball, then surprised the Cleveland defense by banging it into the net.

Wade was celebrating again 29 seconds later after teammate Alex Golovnia kicked the ball away from Crunch defender Bernie James. The ball made its way to Wade along the right boards half-way into the Sockers’ attacking zone. Wade turned and fired a shot that weaved just inside the far post.

Now the Sockers await Friday’s game in Cleveland, site of two five-goal losses this season.

“The playoffs are different, though,” Collins said. “To be a championship team, you can’t win everything at home. If we can’t win in Cleveland, then we don’t deserve a championship.”

Crunch defender George Fernandez, who spent the previous three seasons with the Sockers, said the Crunch players have no reason to be overconfident.

“It’s going to be hard to win three in a row,” Fernandez said. “I don’t care where you are. But we have the players to do it; hopefully we can.”

Socker Notes

Socker owner Ron Fowler said Sunday night that with ownership of the Sports Arena lease now cleared up (going from a group headed by Harry Cooper to a group headed by Ron Hahn), that discussions for dates next year have commenced. Fowler said he forsees no problems in attaining a lease for next year, but did caution he will only participate in an MSL that fields at least eight teams. That means either problems with the Dallas franchise have to be cleared up, or expansion to Buffalo must take place. “I would be shocked if (both of those cities came through) and we had 10 teams in the league next year,” Fowler said. “I like to be optimistic, but I would be surprised. I also wouldn’t bet against Earl (Foreman, MSL commissioner). We’ll see in a couple weeks.” Besides insisting the league fields at least eight teams, Fowler said he wants another condition cleared up before he commits, but wouldn’t elaborate. Fowler also put to rest rumors he might move the team. “If we play, we’ll play in the Sports Arena,” he said. . . . Branko Segota strained his right hamstring with two minutes remaining in the first half when he lunged for a pass near the end boards from Glenn Carbonara. “He passed it all the way down in the corner and I stretched my leg out too far,” Segota said. His status for Friday’s Game 3 in Cleveland is not known: “I hope I can play in the next game, but I’m not 100% sure.”