1981-82 MISL Season

By Dave Litterer of The US Soccer History Archives, with supplemental materials by Steve Holroyd and Paul Reeths

The MISL continued to establish its franchise base after the conclusion of the season. San Francisco moved to Kansas City where they became the Comets, Hartford moved to Memphis and the Pittsburgh Spirit were reinstated. A cross-town Gotham rivalry was established with the addition of the New Jersey Rockets who were based in the new Meadowlands Arena. The season expanded once again, this time to 44 games. Now with thirteen teams, the league was realigned into two divisions.

This was a season of superlatives. On December 4, the New York Arrows defeated Phoenix 15-10 in the highest scoring MISL game ever, and on February 14, Baltimore's Keith Van Eron scored the first ever goal by a goalkeeper. On the field, the New York Arrows continued to dominate the East, with an amazing 36-8 record, once again on the leadership of leading scorer Steve Zungul and Omar Gomez. Zungul scored 103 goals this year, an incredible feat considering only two other players scored more than 55. The Arrows also had one of the best defenses in the league, allowing just 199 goals, bested only by the St. Louis Steamers, who won the Western Division.

The Pittsburgh Spirit came back from hiatus in force, compiling a 31-13 record, good enough for second place in the East. Perhaps the biggest disappointment was the Cleveland Force who barely escaped the cellar in the east, and featured a strong roster. Bringing up the rear in the West was the relocated Kansas City Comets, an inauspicious start for a team that would go on to provide some impressive performances later in the decade.

In the playoffs, the Pittsburgh Spirit were upset by Baltimore in a close series, but otherwise the spoils went to the favored teams, as New York, St. Louis and Wichita advanced. Same story in the semifinals as New York defeated the Blast 6-5 and 6-2, and St. Louis defeated Wichita 10-5, 6-7 and 4-1, leading the divisional champs into the final round. The championship series was best of five, and they needed all five games to win this slugfest. The Arrows lost their first game 2-3 in overtime before charging back 5-3, and taking the series lead in a nailbiter which saw the teams take an 8-8 deadlock into overtime. St. Louis evened the score in the follow-up 6-4, leading to the final showdown. Even here, the result was close, and only at the end did the Arrows pull away for an 8-6 victory and their fourth consecutive title. Pundits might have been justified in calling this the New York Arrows Soccer League; 12 other teams were out in the cold as far as the final gold was concerned. Yet little did anyone know that within a year, the Arrows would be history, driven into bankruptcy by the excesses of the MISL/NASL salary war which was rapidly taking a toll on both sides.

The post-season awards illustrated one of the oddities of the indoor game, the melding of playing roles; unlike the outdoor game, players often mixed offensive and defensive roles. Hence, a forward, Val Tuksa, was named Defender of the Year, and scoring powerhouse Steve Zungul landed a midfielder role on the all-star team, after being named to the team as a forward in previous seasons. After the season, Denver and New Jersey suspended operations, but the league compensated by expanding to the west coast, with the Los Angeles Lazers. They also provided indoor membership to the NASL's San Diego Sockers, who were committed to indoor soccer, but were dissatisfied with the NASL's haphazard indoor season. As it turns out, the NASL suspended their indoor season for 1982-83, and as a result, the league also accommodated the NASL's Chicago Sting and Golden Bay Earthquakes (formerly San Jose) into their season.