1979–80 Major Indoor Soccer League season

The 1979–80 Major Indoor Soccer League season was the second in league history and would end with the New York Arrows repeating as MISL champions.

Expansion would double league membership to 10 teams. There would be a split into two divisions (the Atlantic and Central).[1] The new teams were placed in Buffalo, Hartford, Wichita, Detroit and St. Louis. All but Hartford had a measure of success, as three of the new clubs would make the playoffs and St. Louis averaged over 14,000 fans despite finishing tied for the MISL's worst record.[2]

To accommodate the expanded league, the playoff format was tweaked to include the top three teams in each division. The first round would be a single game between the second and third-place finishers, while the semifinals were a two-game series between the first-place finisher and the first round winner. If the teams were tied at one win apiece, there would be a 15-minute minigame to decide the winner. If the teams remained tied, there would be a MISL-style penalty shootout to break the tie. The winner of the Atlantic Division final would host the championship game.[3]

The Pittsburgh Spirit would recover from a 5-10 start and a coaching change to finish second in the Atlantic, thanks to a league-record 13-game winning streak.[4] They would be joined in the playoffs by the Buffalo Stallions, who snuck into the postseason thanks to the Philadelphia Fever's loss in the season finale.[5] The Stallions qualified due to their 3-1 head-to-head record against the Fever.[6]

In the end, the New York Arrows repeated as champions, thanks to the goalscoring exploits of Steve Zungul. Zungul scored a combined 100 goals (90 in the regular season, 10 in the playoffs) to lead the Arrows, winning both the regular season and playoff MVP awards in the process.

After the season, the Spirit suspended operations for one year.[7] Pittsburgh would return for the 1981-82 season, however.[8]

Teams

Team City/Area Arena
Buffalo Stallions Buffalo, New York Buffalo Memorial Auditorium
Cleveland Force Cleveland, Ohio Richfield Coliseum
Detroit Lightning Detroit, Michigan Cobo Arena
Hartford Hellions Hartford, Connecticut New Haven Coliseum
Hartford Civic Center
Houston Summit Houston, Texas The Summit
New York Arrows Uniondale, New York Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Philadelphia Fever Philadelphia The Spectrum
Pittsburgh Spirit Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Civic Arena (Pittsburgh)
St. Louis Steamers St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis Arena
Wichita Wings Wichita, Kansas Kansas Coliseum

Regular season schedule

The 1979–80 regular season schedule ran from November 24, 1979 to March 9, 1980. The 32 games per team was an increase of eight over the 1978–79 schedule of 24 games.[9]

Final standings

Playoff teams in bold.

Atlantic Division W L Pct. GB GF GA Home Road
New York Arrows 275.844 -- 296 17516-011-5
Pittsburgh Spirit 1814.563 918819111-57-9
Buffalo Stallions 1715.5311017219710-67-9
Philadelphia Fever 1715.531102011979-78-8
Hartford Hellions 6 26.188 211512404-122-14
Central Division W L Pct. GB GF GA Home Road
Houston Summit 2012.625 -- 18116014-26-10
Wichita Wings 1616.500418717310-66-10
Detroit Lightning 1517.469 51922018-87-9
St. Louis Steamers 1220.37581771848-84-12
Cleveland Force 1220.37581521798-84-12

Playoffs

  Division Semifinals Division Finals Championship Game
                           
  A2  Pittsburgh Spirit 5  
A3  Buffalo Stallions 3  
  A1  New York Arrows 2  
    A2  Pittsburgh Spirit 0  
 
     
    A1  New York Arrows 6
  C2  Houston Summit 5
  C2  Wichita Wings 6  
C3  Detroit Lightning 5  
C1  Houston Summit 2
    C2  Wichita Wings 0  
 

Division Semifinals

Pittsburgh vs. Buffalo
Date Away Home Attendance
March 13 Buffalo 3 Pittsburgh 5 5,079
Wichita vs. Detroit
Date Away Home Attendance
March 11 Detroit 5 Wichita 6 6,245

Division Finals

New York vs. Pittsburgh
Date Away Home Attendance
March 16 New York 6 Pittsburgh 3 6,300
March 21 Pittsburgh 3 New York 11 8,802
New York wins series 2-0
Houston vs. Wichita
Date Away Home Attendance
March 18 Houston 5 Wichita 4 9,300
Stewart Jump scored at 5:17 of overtime
March 20 Wichita 3 Houston 4 2,641
Houston wins series 2-0

Championship Game

New York vs. Houston
Date Away Home Attendance
March 23 Houston 4 New York 7 8,469

Regular Season Player Statistics

[10]

Scoring leaders

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

Player Team GP G A Pts
Steve Zungul New York Arrows 32 90 46 136
Fred Grgurev Philadelphia Fever 31 64 40 104
Kai Haaskivi Houston Summit 27 51 36 87
Branko Segota New York Arrows 31 55 31 86
Pat Ercoli Detroit Lightning 32 44 24 68
Iubo Petrovic Buffalo Stallions 31 46 21 67
Graham Fyfe Pittsburgh Spirit 31 37 28 65
Juli Veee New York Arrows 26 29 35 64
Damir Sutevski New York Arrows 30 32 26 58
Jim Ryan Wichita Wings 29 26 29 55

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
Sepp Gantenhammer Houston Summit 14 801 59 4.42 8 5
Alan Mayer Pittsburgh Spirit 17 952 77 4.85 13 4
Cliff Brown Cleveland Force 28 1130 95 5.04 8 10
Keith Van Eron Wichita Wings 20 1050 89 5.09 10 8
Paul Turin St. Louis Steamers 18 932 80 5.15 6 10
Shep Messing New York Arrows 32 1754 151 5.17 15 5
Mick Poole Pittsburgh Spirit 20 1124 99 5.29 12 7
Eric Delabar St. Louis Steamers 12 498 44 5.301 5 5
Mike Ivanow Wichita Wings 14 792 70 5.303 6 6
Bob Rigby Philadelphia Fever 12 684 65 5.70 8 4

Playoff Player Statistics

[11]

Scoring leaders

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

Player Team GP G A Pts
Steve Zungul New York Arrows 3 10 4 14
Juli Veee New York Arrows 3 5 3 8
Steve Buttle Pittsburgh Spirit 3 6 2 8
Omar Gomez Wichita Wings 3 4 2 6
Kai Haaskivi Houston Summit 3 4 1 5

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
Tony Getts Buffalo Stallions 1 4 0 0.00 0 0
Shep Messing New York Arrows 3 180 10 3.33 3 0
Chris Turner Detroit Lightning 1 48 3 3.75 0 0
Mick Poole Houston Summit 3 185 14 4.54 2 1
Keith Van Eron Wichita Wings 3 185 14 4.54 1 2

All-MISL Teams

[12]

First Team   Position   Second Team
Shep Messing, New York G Alan Mayer, Pittsburgh
Kai Haaskivi, Houston D Fred Grgurev, Philadelphia
Branko Segota, New York D Steve Buttle, Pittsburgh
Juli Veee, New York
Steve Zungul, New York M Dave D'Errico, New York
Ian Anderson, Houston F Clive Charles, Pittsburgh
Flemming Lund, Detroit F Steve Pecher, St. Louis
Honorable Mention   Position  
Mick Poole, Houston G Keith Van Eron, Wichita
Jim May, Buffalo
Doc Lawson, Philadelphia D Jim Pollihan, Houston
Luis Alberto, New York M Norman Piper, Wichita
Ernie Buriano, Buffalo
Pat Ercoli, Detroit F Jim Ryan, Wichita

League Awards

Most Valuable Player: Steve Zungul, New York

Scoring Champion: Steve Zungul, New York

Pass Master: Steve Zungul, New York

Rookie of the Year: Jim Sinclair, Buffalo

Goalkeeper of the Year: Sepp Gantenhammer, Houston

Coach of the Year: Len Bilous, Pittsburgh and Pat McBride, St. Louis

Championship Series Most Valuable Player: Steve Zungul, New York

Team Attendance Totals

Club Games Total Average
St. Louis Steamers 16 224,959 14,060
Buffalo Stallions 16 136,892 8,556
New York Arrows 16 125,008 7,813
Philadelphia Fever 16 105,881 6,618
Hartford Hellions 16 86,203 5,388
Pittsburgh Spirit 16 81,781 5,111
Wichita Wings 16 61,618 3,851
Detroit Lightning 16 56,325 3,520
Cleveland Force 16 49,320 3,280
Houston Summit 16 33,496 2,094
OVERALL 160 961,443 6,009

References

  1. ↑ 1979-80 Buffalo Stallions Media Guide. 1979. p. 42.
  2. ↑ "St. Louis Indoor Soccer History". Jim Fossell. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
  3. ↑ 1979-80 Buffalo Stallions Media Guide. 1979. p. 42.
  4. ↑ "1979-80 MISL Season Summary". Our Sports Central. Retrieved January 1, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Spirit, Buffalo Meet In Playoff Matchup". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. March 13, 1980. pp. 9–10. Retrieved 2012-01-01.
  6. ↑ 1982-83 MISL Information Guide. 1982. p. 54.
  7. ↑ Musick, Phil (August 27, 1980). "The Spirit take year off to recoup finances". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 17. Retrieved 2012-01-01.
  8. ↑ Roberts, Jerry (August 29, 1980). "Fuhrer, MISL chief reveal vacation plans for Spirit". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 16. Retrieved 2012-01-01.
  9. ↑ 1979-80 Buffalo Stallions Media Guide. 1979. pp. 48–49.
  10. ↑ MISL Official Tenth Anniversary Guide. 1987. p. 56.
  11. ↑ MISL Official Tenth Anniversary Guide. 1987. p. 83.
  12. ↑ MISL Official Tenth Anniversary Guide. 1987. p. 89.

1979-80 Buffalo Stallions Media Guide. Buffalo, New York: Buffalo Stallions. 1979. 

1980-81 MISL Media Guide. Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania: Major Indoor Soccer League. 1980. 

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

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