1982–83 Major Indoor Soccer League season

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.

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

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

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

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

Division Semifinals

Division Finals

Championship Series

Quarterfinals

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

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

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

^[4]

Scoring leaders

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

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

^[5]

Scoring leaders

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

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

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

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

↑ "NASL, indoor league announce merger". Vancouver Sun. August 11, 1982. p. C2. Retrieved 2012-01-27.
↑ "Golden Bay Gets Zungul". New York Times. January 20, 1983. Retrieved 2012-01-27.
↑ 1982-83 MISL Information Guide. 1982. pp. 89–90.
↑ MISL Official Tenth Anniversary Guide. 1987. p. 53.
↑ 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

Major Indoor Soccer League/Major Soccer League seasons

1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92

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