1982–83 Major Indoor Soccer League season

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Major Indoor Soccer League
Season1982–83
ChampionsSan Diego Sockers
Matches played316
Top goalscorerSteve Zungul (75 goals)
Average attendance7,895

The 1982–83 Major Indoor Soccer League season was the fifth in league history and would end with the San Diego Sockers winning their first MISL title. It would be the Sockers' second straight indoor championship, as the club had won the North American Soccer League's indoor league the previous spring.

Recap[edit]

The league would enter into an agreement with the NASL in the summer of 1982 to begin plans for an eventual merger.[1] Initial plans to have all 14 NASL teams play in the winter would not come to pass, as most teams preferred to concentrate on the outdoor season. However, the Chicago Sting and Golden Bay Earthquakes would join the Sockers for the MISL season.

The Earthquakes would perform worst of the three NASL teams, but picked up Steve Zungul from the New York Arrows when New York's new management decided to try to 'Americanize' the team in an attempt to boost ticket sales.[2] The Arrows, only two games out of first place when the trade was made on January 19, finished at .500 and were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. Despite the Quakes' struggles, Zungul would win the MISL scoring title again.

The expansion Los Angeles Lazers, owned by the Los Angeles Lakers' Jerry Buss, set a record for the lowest winning percentage in league history. After the season, Chicago, San Diego and Golden Bay withdrew and returned to the NASL as the league made plans for an indoor return the following winter. Despite losing the NASL teams, the league continued to expand as teams were announced for Tacoma in 1983-84 and Dallas for 1984-85.

The MISL continued to make inroads on national television. While the spring would see the end of the league's two-year deal with the USA Network, CBS would broadcast a playoff game live from Cleveland on May 7 that drew an estimated four million viewers.

Teams[edit]

Team City/Area Arena
Baltimore Blast Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore Arena
Buffalo Stallions Buffalo, New York Buffalo Memorial Auditorium
Chicago Sting Chicago Chicago Stadium
Cleveland Force Cleveland, Ohio Richfield Coliseum
Golden Bay Earthquakes Oakland, California Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena
Kansas City Comets Kansas City, Missouri Kemper Arena
Los Angeles Lazers Inglewood, California The Forum
Memphis Americans Memphis, Tennessee Mid-South Coliseum
New York Arrows Uniondale, New York Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Phoenix Inferno Phoenix, Arizona Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Pittsburgh Spirit Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Civic Arena (Pittsburgh)
San Diego Sockers San Diego, California San Diego Sports Arena
St. Louis Steamers St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis Arena
Wichita Wings Wichita, Kansas Kansas Coliseum

Regular Season Schedule[edit]

Main article: 1982–83 Major Indoor Soccer League regular season schedule

The 1982–83 regular season schedule ran from November 5, 1982, to April 17, 1983. The 48 games per team was an increase of four over the 1981–82 schedule of 44 games.[3]

Final standings[edit]

Playoff teams in bold.

Eastern Division W L Pct. GB GF GA Home Road
Baltimore Blast 30 18 .625 -- 249 224 19-5 11-13
Cleveland Force 29 19 .604 1 285 267 16-8 13-11
Chicago Sting 28 20 .583 2 285 239 17-7 11-13
New York Arrows 24 24 .500 6 225 219 15-9 9-15
Pittsburgh Spirit 24 24 .500 6 250 247 15-9 9-15
Buffalo Stallions 22 26 .458 8 270 274 13-11 9-15
Memphis Americans 19 29 .396 11 239 274 15-9 4-20
Western Division W L Pct. GB GF GA Home Road
San Diego Sockers 32 16 .667 -- 289 230 19-5 13-11
Wichita Wings 27 21 .563 5 273 249 17-7 10-14
Kansas City Comets 26 22 .542 6 219 210 17-7 9-15
St. Louis Steamers 26 22 .542 6 234 234 15-9 11-13
Phoenix Inferno 24 24 .500 8 249 255 17-7 7-17
Golden Bay Earthquakes 17 31 .354 15 240 290 8-16 9-15
Los Angeles Lazers 8 40 .167 24 191 286 6-18 2-22

Playoffs[edit]

Division Semifinals Division Finals Championship Series
         
E1 Baltimore Blast 2
E4 New York Arrows 1
E1 Baltimore Blast 3
E2 Cleveland Force 2
E2 Cleveland Force 2
E3 Chicago Sting 1
E1 Baltimore Blast 2
W1 San Diego Sockers 3
W1 San Diego Sockers 2
W4 Kansas City Comets 0
W1 San Diego Sockers 3
W2 Wichita Wings 0
W2 Wichita Wings 2
W3 St. Louis Steamers 1

Quarterfinals[edit]

Baltimore vs. New York
Date Away Home Attendance
April 19 New York 4 Baltimore 11 10,511
April 22 Baltimore 6 New York 7 7,157
April 23 New York 3 Baltimore 8 11,223
Baltimore wins series 2-1
Cleveland vs. Chicago
Date Away Home Attendance
April 19 Chicago 9 Cleveland 5 8,519
April 21 Cleveland 5 Chicago 4 9,643
April 23 Chicago 5 Cleveland 7 19,106
Cleveland wins series 2-1
San Diego vs. Kansas City
Date Away Home Attendance
April 20 Kansas City 2 San Diego 6 9,120
April 23 San Diego 9 Kansas City 4 15,957
San Diego wins series 2-0
Wichita vs. St. Louis
Date Away Home Attendance
April 19 St. Louis 5 Wichita 6 8,355
Andy Chapman scored at 13:01 of overtime
April 23 Wichita 2 St. Louis 8 13,881
April 25 St. Louis 7 Wichita 9 9,875
Wichita wins series 2-1

Semifinals[edit]

Baltimore vs. Cleveland
Date Away Home Attendance
April 26 Cleveland 7 Baltimore 6 9,787
April 29 Cleveland 5 Baltimore 10 11,223
May 5 Baltimore 7 Cleveland 3 16,136
May 7 Baltimore 3 Cleveland 6 12,178
May 10 Cleveland 6 Baltimore 8 11,311
Baltimore wins series 3-2
San Diego vs. Wichita
Date Away Home Attendance
April 28 Wichita 5 San Diego 8 11,340
April 30 Wichita 2 San Diego 5 11,520
May 6 San Diego 4 Wichita 3 9,725
San Diego wins series 3-0

Championship Series[edit]

San Diego vs. Baltimore
Date Away Home Attendance
May 13 Baltimore 0 San Diego 6 12,549
May 15 Baltimore 0 San Diego 7 12,185
May 17 San Diego 3 Baltimore 4 11,223
May 19 San Diego 6 Baltimore 7 11,431
Joe Fink scored at 1:03 of overtime
May 23 Baltimore 1 San Diego 3 12,948
San Diego wins series 3-2

Regular Season Player Statistics[edit]

[4]

Scoring leaders[edit]

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

Player Team GP G A Pts
Steve Zungul New York/Golden Bay 43 75 47 122
Stan Stamenkovic Memphis Americans 41 55 65 120
Juli Veee San Diego Sockers 37 57 53 110
Stan Terlecki Pittsburgh Spirit 45 65 40 105
Omar Gomez Wichita Wings 44 37 49 86
Craig Allen Cleveland Force 45 53 31 84
Keith Furphy Cleveland Force 48 56 28 84
Kai Haaskivi Cleveland Force 46 38 46 84
Steve David Phoenix Inferno 47 61 20 81
Ruben Astigarraga Phoenix Inferno 43 34 46 80

Leading goalkeepers[edit]

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses

Player Team GP Min GA GAA W L
Zoltán Tóth New York Arrows 27 1555 104 4.01 12 14
Slobo Ilijevski St. Louis Steamers 44 2548 175 4.12 23 19
Keith Van Eron Baltimore Blast 38 1969 138 4.20 23 9
Alan Mayer San Diego Sockers 43 2407 172 4.29 30 10
Victor Petroni Kansas City Comets 26 1498 112 4.49 14 10
Victor Nogueira Chicago Sting 28 1441 110 4.58 14 12
Enzo DiPede Kansas City Comets 24 1362 109 4.80 12 12
Mike Dowler Wichita Wings 42 2502 203 4.87 25 17
Blagoje Tamindzic Phoenix Inferno 39 2252 183 4.88 19 18
Krys Sobieski Pittsburgh Spirit 41 2273 185 4.88 19 20

Playoff Player Statistics[edit]

[5]

Scoring leaders[edit]

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

Player Team GP G A Pts
Juli Veee San Diego Sockers 10 13 19 32
Dave MacWilliams Baltimore Blast 13 12 11 23
Heinz Wirtz Baltimore Blast 13 10 11 21
Joe Fink Baltimore Blast 13 12 8 20
Kaz Deyna San Diego Sockers 9 14 4 18

Leading goalkeepers[edit]

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses

Player Team GP Min GA GAA W L
Alan Mayer San Diego Sockers 10 587 28 2.86 8 2
Keith Van Eron Baltimore Blast 10 556 49 5.29 4 6
Mike Dowler Wichita Wings 6 357 33 5.55 2 4
Chris Vaccaro Cleveland Force 7 321 36 6.73 2 3

All-MISL Teams[edit]

First Team   Position   Second Team
Alan Mayer, San Diego G Keith Van Eron, Baltimore
Val Tuksa, New York D Greg Makowski, Kansas City
Heinz Wirtz, Baltimore D Kim Roentved, Wichita
Juli Veee, San Diego M Jorgen Kristensen, Wichita
Steve Zungul, New York/Golden Bay F Stan Terlecki, Pittsburgh
Stan Stamenkovic, Memphis F Kai Haaskivi, Cleveland
Honorable Mention   Position  
Slobo Illijevski, St. Louis G
Renato Cila, New York D
Helmut Dudek, Memphis D
Pato Margetic, Chicago F
Kaz Deyna, San Diego F

League awards[edit]

Most Valuable Player: Alan Mayer, San Diego

Scoring Champion: Steve Zungul, New York/Golden Bay

Pass Master: Stan Stamenkovic, Baltimore

Defender of the Year: Bernie James, Cleveland

Rookie of the Year: Kirk Shermer, Los Angeles

Goalkeeper of the Year: Zoltán Tóth, New York

Coach of the Year: Pat McBride, Kansas City

Championship Series Most Valuable Player: Juli Veee, San Diego

References[edit]

  1. ^ "NASL, indoor league announce merger". Vancouver Sun. August 11, 1982. p. C2. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
  2. ^ "Golden Bay Gets Zungul". The New York Times. January 20, 1983. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
  3. ^ 1982-83 MISL Information Guide. 1982. pp. 89–90.
  4. ^ MISL Official Tenth Anniversary Guide. 1987. p. 53.
  5. ^ MISL Official Tenth Anniversary Guide. 1987. p. 81.

Verb, Doug; Jones-Fearnley, Alaina (1982). 1982-83 MISL Information Guide. Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania: Major Indoor Soccer League.

1983-84 MISL Media Guide. Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania: Major Indoor Soccer League. 1983.

Leary, Dan; Griffin, John (1987). MISL Official Tenth Anniversary Guide. New York: Major Indoor Soccer League Communications Department.

External links[edit]

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