1991–92 Major Soccer League season

Major Soccer League
Season	1991–92
Champions	San Diego Sockers; (8th title)
Matches played	140
Top goalscorer	Hector Marinaro (53 goals)
Average attendance	7,844
	← 1990–91 Final season →

The 1991–92 Major Soccer League season was the 14th and final season in league history and would end with the San Diego Sockers winning their tenth NASL or MISL title in 11 indoor seasons, and fifth MISL title in a row.

Recap

The offseason was arguably one of the most unstable in league history. Attempts to save the Kansas City Comets failed and the club folded.[1] Both San Diego and the Dallas Sidekicks were saved by civic outpouring and new ownership groups.[2] A reborn version of the Pittsburgh Spirit was announced on April 29,[3] and the owners of the NHL's Buffalo Sabres expressed interest in putting a team in Buffalo. When faced with the instability of the league, however, both sets of potential owners decided to not put up the $350,000 line of credit needed to play in 1991–92.[4][5]

Despite the upheaval, the seven teams left soldiered on. The regular season was wide open as playoff positioning went right down to the final game on the schedule. The Cleveland Crunch's George Fernandez scored in overtime to put Cleveland into the playoffs and knock the Wichita Wings out.[6] Wichita had been in first place at the beginning of February,[7] but a 6–13 finish doomed their chances at the postseason. Still, the playoffs themselves went according to form as San Diego defeated Baltimore and Dallas for their fifth straight MSL/MISL title.

There were early signs that the league would survive for another year. Attendance was up over 1990–91,[8] and there was an announcement in April that the league would have a 1992-93 season with 44 games and all seven teams would return.[9] However, the Tacoma Stars announced they were folding on June 5.[10] The hoped-for expansion into Buffalo never came to pass as the Buffalo Blizzard chose to join the smaller and more financially stable National Professional Soccer League on June 18.[11]

Attempts to find a new ownership group for the St. Louis Storm failed, leaving the MSL with five teams. Commissioner Earl Foreman announced the dissolution of the league on July 10.[12]

The remaining teams scattered; San Diego and Dallas joined the Continental Indoor Soccer League,[13] while Cleveland and Wichita joined the NPSL.[14] Baltimore Blast owner Ed Hale decided not to join either league, and folded the team instead.[15] However, a new ownership group was awarded an NPSL expansion franchise for Baltimore called the Spirit.

Teams

Team	City/Area	Arena
Baltimore Blast	Baltimore, Maryland	Baltimore Arena
Cleveland Crunch	Cleveland, Ohio	Richfield Coliseum
Dallas Sidekicks	Dallas, Texas	Reunion Arena
San Diego Sockers	San Diego, California	San Diego Sports Arena
St. Louis Storm	St. Louis, Missouri	St. Louis Arena
Tacoma Stars	Tacoma, Washington	Tacoma Dome
Wichita Wings	Wichita, Kansas	Kansas Coliseum

Regular Season Schedule

The 1991–92 regular season schedule ran from October 19, 1991, to April 4, 1992. At 40 games, it was the shortest schedule for the league since the 1980–81 season and the seven-team lineup was its smallest since the inaugural season of 1978–79.[16]

Final standings

Playoff teams in bold.

	W	L	Pct.	GB	GF	GA	Home	Road
San Diego Sockers	26	14	.650	–	243	186	15–5	11–9
Dallas Sidekicks	22	18	.550	4	231	229	16–4	6–14
Cleveland Crunch	20	20	.500	6	249	229	13–7	7–13
Baltimore Blast	19	21	.475	7	213	230	11–9	8–12
Wichita Wings	18	22	.450	8	228	236	12–8	6–14
Tacoma Stars	18	22	.450	8	198	242	15–5	3–17
St. Louis Storm	17	23	.425	9	241	251	12–8	5–15

Playoffs

Semifinals			Championship Series


1	San Diego Sockers	4

4	Baltimore Blast	1
			1	San Diego Sockers	4

			2	Dallas Sidekicks	2
2	Dallas Sidekicks	4

3	Cleveland Crunch	2

Semifinals

San Diego vs. Baltimore
Date	Away	Home	Attendance
April 8	Baltimore 4	San Diego 5	5,599
April 10	Baltimore 7	San Diego 6	5,621
April 14	San Diego 5	Baltimore 4	4,148
	Kevin Crow scored at 5:34 of overtime
April 16	San Diego 6	Baltimore 3	4,458
April 18	San Diego 4	Baltimore 3	4,594
San Diego wins series 4–1

Dallas vs. Cleveland
Date	Away	Home	Attendance
April 14	Cleveland 3	Dallas 6	7,474
April 16	Cleveland 6	Dallas 7	6,549
	Tatu scored at 3:59 of overtime
April 18	Dallas 6	Cleveland 7	8,752
	Chris Szanto scored at 1:39 of overtime
April 21	Dallas 8	Cleveland 7	7,289
	David Doyle scored at 7:59 of overtime
April 24	Dallas 7	Cleveland 8	7,913
	Zoran Karic scored at :47 of overtime
April 26	Cleveland 4	Dallas 8	6,824
Dallas wins series 4–2

Championship Series

San Diego vs. Dallas
Date	Away	Home	Attendance
April 30	Dallas 3	San Diego 7	5,269
May 2	Dallas 7	San Diego 9	7,921
May 5	San Diego 5	Dallas 4	6,703
	Paul Wright scored at 1:57 of overtime
May 8	San Diego 6	Dallas 10	8,655
May 9	San Diego 2	Dallas 4	8,171
May 12	Dallas 2	San Diego 8	10,117
San Diego wins series 4–2

Team Attendance Totals

Club	Games	Total	Average
St. Louis Storm	20	205,323	10,266
San Diego Sockers	20	186,962	9,348
Baltimore Blast	20	164,129	8,206
Wichita Wings	20	164,127	8,206
Cleveland Crunch	20	141,120	7,056
Dallas Sidekicks	20	140,053	7,003
Tacoma Stars	20	96,426	4,821
Overall	140	1,098,140	7,844

Scoring leaders

GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Zoran Karic	Cleveland Crunch	37	39	63	102
Preki	St Louis Storm	39	45	52	97
Hector Marinaro	Cleveland Crunch	40	53	41	94
Tatu	Dallas Sidekicks	39	47	41	88
Chico Borja	Wichita Wings	33	32	52	84
Dale Mitchell	Tacoma Stars	40	45	34	79
Paul Wright	San Diego Sockers	39	50	27	77
Dale Ervine	Wichita Wings	33	42	33	75
David Doyle	Dallas Sidekicks	40	51	23	74
Branko Segota	St Louis Storm	34	47	25	72

All-MISL Teams

First Team	Position	Second Team	Third Team
Victor Nogueira, San Diego	G	Joe Papaleo, Dallas	Cris Vaccaro, Baltimore
Kevin Crow, San Diego	D	Ben Collins, San Diego	Danny Pena, Wichita
Iain Fraser, Baltimore	D	George Fernandez, Cleveland	Wes McLeod, Dallas
Zoran Karic, Cleveland	M	Chico Borja, Wichita	Branko Segota, St Louis
Tatu, Dallas	F	David Doyle, Dallas	Hector Marinaro, Cleveland
Preki, St Louis	F	Dale Ervine, Wichita	Paul Wright, San Diego

League awards

Most Valuable Player: Victor Nogueira, San Diego

Scoring Champion: Zoran Karic, Cleveland

Pass Master: Zoran Karic, Cleveland

Defender of the Year: Kevin Crow, San Diego

Rookie of the Year: Tommy Tanner, Cleveland

Goalkeeper of the Year: Victor Nogueira, San Diego

Coach of the Year[17] Gordon Jago, Dallas

Championship Series Most Valuable Player: Thompson Usiyan, San Diego

Championship Series Unsung Hero: Kevin Crow, San Diego

gollark: Also kind of a pun related to PotatOS, one of my weirder projects.

gollark: * POTAT-O5

gollark: It's a reference to a thing I like which originated as a joke between me and heavpoot, who is a Unicode Consortium member.

gollark: * POTAT-O5

gollark: Those on the POTAT-O5 Council have POTAT-O5 clearance.

References

"Kansas City soccer team folds". Times-News (Hendersonville, North Carolina). July 17, 1991. p. 16. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
Finnegan, Tara (June 29, 1991). "Sockers, Sidekicks get new owners". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
Fink, David (April 30, 1991). "Pittsburgh to rejoin pro soccer league for 1991-92". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 19. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
Lawrence, Merlisa (August 21, 1991). "Mullin Says No To Soccer". Pittsburgh Press. p. E1.
"Major Soccer League Set To Open 14th Season". Los Angeles Times. October 20, 1991. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
"Fernandez's Goal Gets Crunch in Playoffs". Los Angeles Times. April 5, 1992. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
Geis, John (February 15, 1992). "Sockers Mix Some Skill, Brawn to Get Past Wichita". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
Geis, John (April 6, 1992). "Owners Don't Delay in Making '92 Plans". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
Geis, John (April 9, 1992). "Lost Quarter Is Costly to Blast". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
"Tacoma Stars Fold; Only Six Teams Left In MSL". Seattle Times. June 6, 1992. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
McKee, Sandra (June 19, 1992). "Another summer, another scare in MSL". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
Geis, John (July 11, 1992). "S.D. Sockers Due to Follow League Demise". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
Geis, John (October 16, 1992). "CISL Owners Discuss Expansion". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
"NPSL approves Cleveland, Wichita". Milwaukee Sentinel. August 1, 1992. p. 6B. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
Preston, Mike (July 11, 1992). "Now a team without a league, Blast will explore new fields". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
MSL Official Guide 1991-92. 1991. pp. 162–163.
"Dallas' Jago Named MSL Coach Of Year". Wichita Eagle. April 29, 1992. p. B5.

Griffin, John, ed. (1991). MSL Official Guide 1991-92. Baltimore: Major Soccer League Communications Department.

Moorhouse, Jim, ed. (1993). 1993 San Diego Sockers Media Guide. San Diego: San Diego Sockers.

External links

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[1] "Kansas City soccer team folds". Times-News (Hendersonville, North Carolina). July 17, 1991. p. 16. Retrieved April 26, 2012.

[2] Finnegan, Tara (June 29, 1991). "Sockers, Sidekicks get new owners". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved April 26, 2012.

[3] Fink, David (April 30, 1991). "Pittsburgh to rejoin pro soccer league for 1991-92". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 19. Retrieved April 26, 2012.

[4] Lawrence, Merlisa (August 21, 1991). "Mullin Says No To Soccer". Pittsburgh Press. p. E1.

[5] "Major Soccer League Set To Open 14th Season". Los Angeles Times. October 20, 1991. Retrieved April 26, 2012.

[6] "Fernandez's Goal Gets Crunch in Playoffs". Los Angeles Times. April 5, 1992. Retrieved April 26, 2012.

[7] Geis, John (February 15, 1992). "Sockers Mix Some Skill, Brawn to Get Past Wichita". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 26, 2012.

[8] Geis, John (April 6, 1992). "Owners Don't Delay in Making '92 Plans". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 26, 2012.

[9] Geis, John (April 9, 1992). "Lost Quarter Is Costly to Blast". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 26, 2012.

[10] "Tacoma Stars Fold; Only Six Teams Left In MSL". Seattle Times. June 6, 1992. Retrieved April 26, 2012.

[11] McKee, Sandra (June 19, 1992). "Another summer, another scare in MSL". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved April 26, 2012.

[12] Geis, John (July 11, 1992). "S.D. Sockers Due to Follow League Demise". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 26, 2012.

[13] Geis, John (October 16, 1992). "CISL Owners Discuss Expansion". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 26, 2012.

[14] "NPSL approves Cleveland, Wichita". Milwaukee Sentinel. August 1, 1992. p. 6B. Retrieved April 26, 2012.

[15] Preston, Mike (July 11, 1992). "Now a team without a league, Blast will explore new fields". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved April 26, 2012.

[16] MSL Official Guide 1991-92. 1991. pp. 162–163.

[17] "Dallas' Jago Named MSL Coach Of Year". Wichita Eagle. April 29, 1992. p. B5.