1981–82 Major Indoor Soccer League season

The 1981–82 Major Indoor Soccer League season was the fourth in league history and would end with the New York Arrows repeating once again as MISL champions.

It was a year of expansion, as the New Jersey Rockets ^[1] were added and the schedule was lengthened by almost two months. The 44-game regular-season schedule was an increase of four games, and the playoff schedule was expanded to two best-of-three rounds and one best-of-five championship series.^[2] This was done to, as a league spokesman put it, force players to decide on either the indoor or outdoor game ^[3]

With the Hartford Hellions moving to Memphis^[4] and the San Francisco Fog moving to Kansas City,^[5] the league went back to a two-division setup. The top four finishers in each division would advance to the MISL playoffs.^[6] The Pittsburgh Spirit returned,^[7] and had the second-best record in the league.

While the Arrows had the best record in the league and Steve Zungul won the scoring title again,^[8] New York was pushed hard in the playoffs. In their first round matchup with the Buffalo Stallions, the Stallions won the first game of the series in New York and held a 4-2 lead with 1:20 remaining in Game 2. Zungul and Omar Gomez scored 36 seconds apart to tie the match, and Dragan Simic scored in overtime to even the series.^[9] New York won Game 3 to advance.

New York and St. Louis would eventually meet in a five-game championship series that would see every game decided by two goals or less, including two in overtime.^[10]^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14]

After the season, the Philadelphia Fever would fold ^[15] and the New Jersey Rockets^[16] and Denver Avalanche^[17] suspended operations.

Teams

Team	City/Area	Arena
Baltimore Blast	Baltimore	Baltimore Arena
Buffalo Stallions	Buffalo, New York	Buffalo Memorial Auditorium
Cleveland Force	Cleveland	Richfield Coliseum
Denver Avalanche	Denver	McNichols Sports Arena
Kansas City Comets	Kansas City, Missouri	Kemper Arena
Memphis Americans	Memphis, Tennessee	Mid-South Coliseum
New York Arrows	Uniondale, New York	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
New Jersey Rockets	East Rutherford, New Jersey	Brendan Byrne Arena
Philadelphia Fever	Philadelphia	The Spectrum
Phoenix Inferno	Phoenix, Arizona	Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Pittsburgh Spirit	Pittsburgh	Civic Arena (Pittsburgh)
St. Louis Steamers	St. Louis	St. Louis Arena
Wichita Wings	Wichita, Kansas	Kansas Coliseum

Regular season schedule

The 1981–82 regular season schedule ran from November 13, 1981, to April 25, 1982. The 44 games per team was an increase of four over the 1980–81 schedule of 40 games.^[18]

Final standings

Playoff teams in bold.

Eastern Division	W	L	Pct.	GB	GF	GA	Home	Road
New York Arrows	36	8	.818	--	302	199	18-4	18-4
Pittsburgh Spirit	31	13	.705	5	254	208	17-5	14-8
Baltimore Blast	27	17	.525	9	223	207	15-7	12-10
Buffalo Stallions	24	20	.500	12	276	244	13-9	11-11
New Jersey Rockets	17	27	.386	19	195	230	9-13	8-14
Cleveland Force	15	29	.341	21	205	250	7-15	8-14
Philadelphia Fever	11	33	.250	25	175	250	7-15	4-18

Western Division	W	L	Pct.	GB	GF	GA	Home	Road
St. Louis Steamers	28	16	.636	--	228	182	15-7	13-9
Wichita Wings	27	17	.614	1	235	200	15-7	12-10
Memphis Americans	20	24	.455	8	250	271	14-8	6-16
Denver Avalanche	19	25	.432	9	182	203	16-6	3-19
Phoenix Inferno	17	27	.386	11	222	254	11-11	6-16
Kansas City Comets	14	30	.318	14	174	223	10-12	4-18

Playoffs

Division Semifinals

Division Finals

Championship Series

Quarterfinals

New York vs. Buffalo
Date	Away	Home	Attendance
April 30	Buffalo 9	New York 7	4,223
May 2	New York 5	Buffalo 4	9,640
	Dragan Simic scored at 6:05 of overtime
May 5	Buffalo 6	New York 10	3,345
New York wins series 2-1

Pittsburgh vs. Baltimore
Date	Away	Home	Attendance
April 30	Baltimore 1	Pittsburgh 3	6,594
May 1	Pittsburgh 5	Baltimore 6	8,513
	Miguel Filardo scored at 5:12 of overtime
May 5	Baltimore 6	Pittsburgh 2	5,985
Baltimore wins series 2-1

St. Louis vs. Denver
Date	Away	Home	Attendance
April 28	Denver 2	St. Louis 4	11,641
April 30	St. Louis 7	Denver 6	7,306
St. Louis wins series 2-0

Wichita vs. Memphis
Date	Away	Home	Attendance
April 29	Memphis 5	Wichita 3	6,613
May 1	Wichita 6	Memphis 3	5,682
May 2	Memphis 3	Wichita 12	7,573
Wichita wins series 2-1

Semifinals

New York vs. Baltimore
Date	Away	Home	Attendance
May 7	Baltimore 5	New York 6	10,244
	Paul Kitson scored at 10:19 of overtime
May 8	New York 6	Baltimore 2	9,643
New York wins series 2-0

St. Louis vs. Wichita
Date	Away	Home	Attendance
May 7	Wichita 5	St. Louis 10	12,436
May 9	St. Louis 6	Wichita 7	9,643
	Andy Chapman scored at :39 of overtime
May 12	Wichita 1	St. Louis 4	11,498
	St. Louis wins series 2-1

Championship Series

New York vs. St. Louis
Date	Away	Home	Attendance
May 14	St. Louis 3	New York 2	7,921
	Tony Glavin scored at 5:55 of overtime
May 16	St. Louis 3	New York 5	7,431
May 21	New York 9	St. Louis 8	18,160
	Steve Zungul scored at 4:13 of overtime
May 23	New York 4	St. Louis 6	18,116
May 26	St. Louis 6	New York 8	11,023
New York wins series 3-2

Regular season player statistics

^[19]

Scoring leaders

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

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Steve Zungul	New York Arrows	40	103	60	163
Stan Terlecki	Pittsburgh Spirit	43	74	43	117
Stan Stamenkovic	Memphis Americans	36	46	47	83
Steve David	Phoenix Inferno	44	58	23	81
Paul Child	Pittsburgh Spirit	44	52	29	81
Omar Gomez	New York Arrows	40	40	36	76
Keith Furphy	Cleveland Force	44	50	25	75
Joe Fink	Baltimore Blast	43	51	22	73
Germain Iglesias	Buffalo Stalliona	44	46	25	71
Don Ebert	St. Louis Steamers	44	52	19	71

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
Slobo Ilijevski	St. Louis Steamers	36	2103	135	3.85	24	11
Keith Van Eron	Baltimore Blast	32	1664	110	3.97	18	12
Pascal Antoine	Denver Avalanche	18	881	60	4.09	6	7
Krys Sobieski	Pittsburgh Spirit	29	1498	105	4.20	19	7
Victor Petroni	Kansas City Comets	18	898	63	4.21	7	8
Zoltán Tóth	New York Arrows	17	1022	74	4.34	15	2
Van Taylor	Phoenix Inferno	29	1217	89	4.39	10	8
Mike Dowler	Wichita Wings	37	2149	162	4.52	22	14
Shep Messing	New York Arrows	27	1652	125	4.54	21	6
Alan Mayer	New Jersey Rockets	27	1527	116	4.56	8	16

Playoff player statistics

^[20]

Scoring leaders

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

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Steve Zungul	New York Arrows	10	24	8	32
Omar Gomez	New York Arrows	10	11	11	22
Greg Villa	St. Louis Steamers	10	7	9	16
Tony Glavin	St. Louis Steamers	8	9	4	13
Carl Rose	St. Louis Steamers	10	8	4	12

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
Krys Sobieski	Pittsburgh Spirit	2	120	5	2.50	1	1
Zoltán Tóth	New York Arrows	5	306	21	4.12	4	1
Keith Van Eron	Baltimore Blast	5	298	21	4.22	2	3
Slobo Ilijevski	St. Louis Steamers	10	611	49	4.81	6	4
Cliff Brown	Wichita Wings	6	359	30	5.02	3	3

All-MISL teams

First Team	Position	Second Team
Slobo Ilijevski, St. Louis	G	Mike Dowler, Wichita
Val Tuksa, New York	D	Ian Anderson, Cleveland
Helmut Dudek, Memphis	D	Kevin Kewley, Wichita
Steve Zungul, New York	M	Steve David, Phoenix
Stan Terlecki, Pittsburgh	F	Joe Fink, Baltimore
Stan Stamenkovic, Memphis	F	Tony Glavin, St. Louis

Honorable Mention	Position
Shep Messing, New York	G	Krys Sobieski, Pittsburgh
Renato Cila, New York	D	John O'Hara, Pittsburgh
Dave MacKenzie, Pittsburgh	D	Carl Rose, St. Louis
Kim Roentved, Wichita
Paul Child, Pittsburgh	F	Jorgen Kristensen, Wichita
Keith Furphy, Cleveland	F	Don Ebert, St. Louis

League Awards

Most Valuable Player: Steve Zungul, New York/Stan Terlecki, Pittsburgh
Scoring Champion: Steve Zungul, New York
Pass Master: Steve Zungul, New York
Rookie of the Year: Germain Iglesias, Buffalo
Defender of the Year: Val Tuksa, New York
Goalkeeper of the Year: Slobo Ilijevski, St. Louis
Coach of the Year: Dave Clements, Denver
Championship Series Most Valuable Player: Steve Zungul, New York

References

↑ "Jersey Team Joins M.I.S.L.". New York Times. September 15, 1981. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
↑ "Tilts Tonight Open MISL Season". Youngstown Vindicator. November 13, 1981. p. 14. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
↑ "MISL directors extend league season". St. Petersburg Times. June 9, 1981. p. 2C. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
↑ "Hellions move now more likely". Record-Journal. May 28, 1981. p. 14. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
↑ "Kansas City may soon be getting a pro soccer team". Milwaukee Sentinel. April 3, 1981. p. B2. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
↑ 1981-82 MISL Media Guide. 1981. p. 144.
↑ Tuscano, Joe (June 19, 1981). "Spirit Bounces Back To MISL". Observer-Reporter. p. C1. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
↑ "1981–82 MISL season Summary". Our Sports Central. Retrieved December 6, 2011.
↑ "Late Rally Saves Day For Arrows". Pittsburgh Press. May 3, 1982. p. C1. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
↑ "Arrows Lose Opener". New York Times. May 15, 1982. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
↑ "Arrows Tie Series With Steamers". New York Times. May 17, 1982. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
↑ "Arrows Take 2-1 Lead". New York Times. May 22, 1982. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
↑ "Arrows Still Champions". New York Times. May 27, 1982. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
↑ "Arrows Cop 4th Crown". The Hour. May 27, 1982. p. 30. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
↑ Kaine, Mike (August 11, 1982). "FEVER HALTS OPERATION FOR 1 YEAR". Philadelphia Daily News. p. 62. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
↑ "MISL Team In Trouble". Observer-Reporter. April 9, 1982. p. B5. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
↑ "MISL season opens tonight". St. Joseph Gazette. November 5, 1982. p. 2D. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
↑ 1981-82 MISL Media Guide. 1981. pp. 141–142.
↑ MISL Official Tenth Anniversary Guide. 1987. p. 54.
↑ MISL Official Tenth Anniversary Guide. 1987. p. 82.

1981-82 MISL Media Guide. Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania: Major Indoor Soccer League. 1981.

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

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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