Crow Is Around at the End to Lift San Diego, 4-3 : Sockers Lose Players but Manage to Beat Wichita in Two Overtimes

WICHITA, Kan. — Kevin Crow was all that remained of the Sockers’ double-all-star defense at the end, but he was all that was needed.

Crow, who had put the clamps on Erik Rasmussen after the Wichita forward tied the score with a brilliant goal early in the fourth quarter, ended 3 hours and 6 minutes of indoor soccer tension Tuesday night.

Crow broke down the right side on a four-on-three break and fed a crossing pass to Keder, who scored from 15 feet on the right side for a 4-3 double-overtime victory by the Major Indoor Soccer League leaders.

Crow said he had two players to pass to on the far side. “I got one of them,” he said, “and Keder finished it nicely.”

Said Socker Coach Ron Newman: “The story tonight was Kevin Crow. He was brilliant. He did it for us on both ends of the floor.”

San Diego’s other all-star defender and team captain, Fernando Clavijo, was banished to the dressing room in the third quarter along with Wichita’s Mickey Thomas for violent misconduct.

And Branko Segota sat out three quarters with an ankle injury he suffered in the first quarter. He came back and played in overtime, but not at full strength.

The Sockers were down to just 11 players at the end. Defender Brian Schmetzer left during the overtime to catch a plane home, where his wife was having emergency surgery.

Wichita is fighting for a playoff spot, while the Socker own a 10 1/2-game lead in the West. Yet the Sockers turned back a Wing team that played the lights out in the second half.

“I’m not surprised,” Crow said. “We’ve got a lot of young guys. We played with a lot of heart and a lot of character.”

Rasmussen’s tying goal early in the fourth period brought the home crowd of 8,051 to its feet.

He picked the pockets of two Sockers, intercepting a two-foot exchange from goalkeeper Paul Toth to defender Gus Mokalis at the left post, and left them both flat on the ground while he waltzed in with his 45th goal of the season.

The Wings outshot the Sockers, 46-28, including a 14-0 margin in the fourth quarter.

Thomas and Clavijo were ejected when a fight broke out eight minutes into the third quarter. Thomas and Clavijo had words. Clavijo shoved Thomas in the face and Terry Rowe barely missed with a left cross to Clavijo. Then Raffaele Ruotolo tore into Rowe.

Thomas and Clavijo both got game-misconduct penalties of five minutes, and both benches were penalized two minutes for leaving the bench area.

San Diego’s Rene Ortiz, who signed an amateur contract hours before the freeze last Friday, played in his first game and scored his first point in professional soccer in the second quarter.