1983–84 Major Indoor Soccer League season

The 1983–84 Major Indoor Soccer League season was the sixth in league history and ended with the Baltimore Blast winning their first MISL championship. The Blast would beat the St. Louis Steamers in the championship series, the third time in five seasons the Steamers would lose in the MISL championship round. This would be the first time the MISL finals would be a best-of-seven series, part of the league's expanded playoff format.

Major Indoor Soccer League

Season	1983–84
Champions	Baltimore Blast
Matches played	288
Top goalscorer	Mark Liveric (58 goals)
Average attendance	8,707
← 1982–83 1984–85 →

Recap

With the North American Soccer League restarting their indoor league in the fall of 1983, the defending champion San Diego Sockers, Chicago Sting and Golden Bay Earthquakes would not rejoin the MISL for the upcoming season. To replace the teams, the Tacoma Stars (actually the reactivated Denver Avalanche) began play this season.

While there were some franchises who would begin a run of respectability at the box office, the Cleveland Force chief among them, others would see the end of their run. The New York Arrows, Buffalo Stallions and Phoenix Pride would all go out of business at the end of the season. Despite winning the first four MISL titles, the Arrows never gained a foothold in the New York market. Changing the name of the Phoenix franchise (GM Ted Podleski hated the Inferno name, and wanted a name more in tune with his Christian beliefs) would not bring about an improved record and new owner Bruce Merrill was ready to fold after losing $2 million in less than a year.^[1] The Stallions, in particular, would be caught trying to move out of their Buffalo Memorial Auditorium offices without paying back rent, similar to what had happened with the NFL's Baltimore Colts a few months earlier.^[2]

Not all news was bad. The Force and Blast routinely drew strong crowds, and the new franchise in Tacoma nearly made the playoffs. The MISL drew 2.5 million to their games, and another 300,000 attended the playoff games. One game was televised on CBS (Game 3 of the championship series on June 2), as well.

After the season, the Memphis Americans would move to Las Vegas.^[3]

Teams

Team	City/Area	Arena
Baltimore Blast	Baltimore, Maryland	Baltimore Arena
Buffalo Stallions	Buffalo, New York	Buffalo Memorial Auditorium
Cleveland Force	Cleveland, Ohio	Richfield Coliseum
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 Pride	Phoenix, Arizona	Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Pittsburgh Spirit	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Civic Arena (Pittsburgh)
St. Louis Steamers	St. Louis, Missouri	St. Louis Arena
Tacoma Stars	Tacoma, Washington	Tacoma Dome
Wichita Wings	Wichita, Kansas	Kansas Coliseum

Regular season schedule

Main article: 1983–84 Major Indoor Soccer League regular season schedule

The 1983–84 regular season schedule ran from November 4, 1983, to April 21, 1984. It would be the first time in MISL history that the length of the schedule stayed the same as the previous year. In this case, each team continued to play 48 games apiece.^[4]

Final standings

Playoff teams in bold.

Eastern Division	W	L	Pct.	GB	GF	GA	Home^[5]	Road^[5]
Baltimore Blast	34	14	.708	--	280	203	20-4	14-10
Pittsburgh Spirit	32	16	.667	2	245	204	19-5	13-11
Cleveland Force	31	17	.646	3	269	229	18-6	13-11
New York Arrows	20	28	.417	14	232	280	12-12	8-16
Memphis Americans	18	30	.375	16	216	284	14-10	4-20
Buffalo Stallions	15	33	.313	19	226	279	12-12	3-21

Western Division	W	L	Pct.	GB	GF	GA	Home^[5]	Road^[5]
St. Louis Steamers	26	22	.542	--	220	202	16-8	10-14
Wichita Wings	25	23	.521	1	237	228	17-7	8-16
Los Angeles Lazers	24	24	.500	2	223	239	13-11	11-13
Kansas City Comets	23	25	.479	3	232	246	15-9	8-16
Tacoma Stars	22	26	.458	4	226	232	14-10	8-16
Phoenix Pride	18	30	.375	8	221	249	12-12	6-18

Playoffs

Division Semifinals

Division Finals

Championship Series

E1

Baltimore Blast

3

E4

New York Arrows

1

E1

Baltimore Blast

3

E3

Cleveland Force

0

E2

Pittsburgh Spirit

1

E3

Cleveland Force

3

E1

Baltimore Blast

4

W1

St. Louis Steamers

1

W1

St. Louis Steamers

3

W4

Kansas City Comets

2

W1

St. Louis Steamers

3

W2

Wichita Wings

0

W2

Wichita Wings

3

W3

Los Angeles Lazers

1

Quarterfinals

Baltimore vs. New York Date Away Home Attendance April 27 New York 5 Baltimore 11 11,220 April 29 New York 9 Baltimore 8 10,606 Mark Liveric scored at :17 of overtime May 4 Baltimore 4 New York 3 2,353 May 9 Baltimore 14 New York 5 1,779 Baltimore wins series 3-1

Pittsburgh vs. Cleveland Date Away Home Attendance April 26 Cleveland 6 Pittsburgh 4 7,002 April 27 Cleveland 1 Pittsburgh 4 11,739 May 1 Pittsburgh 5 Cleveland 6 10,383 Alex Tarnoczi scored at 11:46 of overtime May 4 Pittsburgh 3 Cleveland 5 18,630 Cleveland wins series 3-1

St. Louis vs. Kansas City Date Away Home Attendance April 24 Kansas City 4 St. Louis 6 7,445 April 27 Kansas City 6 St. Louis 7 12,235 May 5 St. Louis 1 Kansas City 2 15,007 May 9 St. Louis 3 Kansas City 5 13,127 May 13 Kansas City 5 St. Louis 6 13,273 St. Louis wins series 3-2

Wichita vs. Los Angeles Date Away Home Attendance April 24 Los Angeles 7 Wichita 10 8,782 May 1 Los Angeles 6 Wichita 4 9,586 May 4 Wichita 5 Los Angeles 4 4,522 May 7 Wichita 6 Los Angeles 5 3,392 Wichita wins series 3-1

Semifinals

Baltimore vs. Cleveland Date Away Home Attendance May 12 Cleveland 4 Baltimore 5 11,034 May 16 Cleveland 5 Baltimore 6 9,110 May 17 Baltimore 7 Cleveland 2 10,591 Baltimore wins series 3-0

St. Louis vs. Wichita Date Away Home Attendance May 16 Wichita 3 St. Louis 4 8,695 May 19 Wichita 6 St. Louis 7 13,112 May 22 St. Louis 5 Wichita 4 9,681 Tony Bellinger scored at 1:55 of overtime St. Louis wins series 3-0

Championship Series

Baltimore vs. St. Louis Date Away Home Attendance May 27 St. Louis 7 Baltimore 3 11,546 May 31 St. Louis 3 Baltimore 5 10,778 June 2 Baltimore 5 St. Louis 2 14,114 June 6 Baltimore 5 St. Louis 4 15,302 Stan Stamenkovic scored at 1:59 of overtime June 8 St. Louis 3 Baltimore 10 12,007 Baltimore wins series 4-1

Regular Season Player Statistics

^[6]

Scoring leaders

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

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Stan Stamenkovic	Baltimore Blast	46	34	69	97
Kai Haaskivi	Cleveland Force	47	37	51	88
Craig Allen	Cleveland Force	44	49	37	86
Mark Liveric	New York Arrows	48	58	26	84
Fred Grgurev	New York/Memphis	50	42	34	76
Andy Chapman	Wichita Wings	46	53	21	74
Poli Garcia	Los Angeles Lazers	48	39	33	72
Keith Furphy	Cleveland Force	48	39	31	70
Gordon Hill	Kansas City Comets	41	46	24	70
Louie Nanchoff	Cleveland Force	42	36	33	69

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	40	2336	143	3.67	22	15
Scott Manning	Baltimore Blast	28	1552	104	4.02	18	8
Joe Papaleo	Pittsburgh Spirit	25	1455	100	4.12	16	8
Mike Mahoney	Los Angeles Lazers	42	2390	172	4.32	19	18
Mike Dowler	Wichita Wings	46	2724	196	4.32	25	21
Krys Sobieski	Cleveland Force	32	1716	125	4.37	19	7
John Baretta	Tacoma Stars	30	1741	130	4.48	11	14
Blagoje Tamindzic	Phoenix Pride	30	1486	116	4.68	9	14
Enzo DiPede	Kansas City Comets	39	2180	174	4.79	18	18
Wieslaw Surlit	Buffalo Stallions	35	1736	155	5.36	10	20

Playoff Player Statistics

^[7]

Scoring leaders

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

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Stan Stamenkovic	Baltimore Blast	12	13	20	33
Dave MacWilliams	Baltimore Blast	12	12	14	26
Njego Pesa	St. Louis Steamers	13	15	9	24
Pat Ercoli	Baltimore Blast	10	16	2	18
Don Ebert	St. Louis Steamers	12	9	7	16

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
Scott Manning	Baltimore Blast	9	500	31	3.72	8	0
Chris Vaccaro	Cleveland Force	6	325	22	4.06	3	3
Enzo DiPede	Kansas City Comets	5	286	22	4.62	2	2
Slobo Illijevski	St. Louis Steamers	10	596	48	4.83	6	4
Mike Dowler	Wichita Wings	7	398	34	5.13	3	3

All-MISL Teams

First Team	Position	Second Team
Slobo Illijevski, St. Louis	G	Mike Dowler, Wichita
Sam Bick, St. Louis	D	Tony Bellinger, St. Louis
Kim Roentved, Wichita	D	Greg Makowski, Kansas City
Kai Haaskivi, Cleveland	M	Craig Allen, Cleveland
Art Hughes, Memphis	M	Greg Makowski, Kansas City
Stan Stamenkovic, Baltimore	F	Gordon Hill, Kansas City
Andy Chapman, Wichita	F	Mark Liveric, New York

Honorable Mention	Position
Scott Manning, Baltimore	G
Helmut Dudek, Memphis	D
Ray Evans, Tacoma	D
Batata, Los Angeles	F
Poli Garcia, Los Angeles	F

League awards

Most Valuable Player: Stan Stamenkovic, Baltimore

Scoring Champion: Stan Stamenkovic, Baltimore

Pass Master: Stan Stamenkovic, Baltimore

Defender of the Year: Kim Roentved, Wichita

Rookie of the Year: Kevin Maher, Pittsburgh

Goalkeeper of the Year: Slobo Ilijevski, St. Louis

Coach of the Year: Kenny Cooper, Baltimore

Championship Series Most Valuable Player: Scott Manning, Baltimore

Team Attendance Totals

Club	Games	Total	Average
Kansas City Comets	24	378,864	15,786
St. Louis Steamers	24	335,805	13,992
Cleveland Force	24	328,619	13,692
Baltimore Blast	24	268,534	11,189
Wichita Wings	24	216,824	9,034
Pittsburgh Spirit	24	198,668	8,278
Memphis Americans	24	157,361	6,557
Phoenix Pride	24	142,157	5,923
New York Arrows	24	131,472	5,478
Tacoma Stars	24	127,728	5,322
Buffalo Stallions	24	116,020	4,834
Los Angeles Lazers	24	105,720	4,405
OVERALL	288	2,507,722	8,707

References

1. "Phoenix Inferno/Phoenix Pride". Fun While It Lasted. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
2. "Buffalo Stallions". Fun While It Lasted. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
3. "Memphis Americans Move to Vegas". Palm Beach Post. April 20, 1984. p. D4. Retrieved March 10, 2012.^{[permanent dead link]}
4. 1983-84 MISL Media Guide. 1983. pp. 46–47.
5. 1984-85 Dallas Sidekicks Media Guide. 1984. pp. 36–37.
6. MISL Official Tenth Anniversary Guide. 1987. p. 53.
7. MISL Official Tenth Anniversary Guide. 1987. p. 81.

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

1984-85 Dallas Sidekicks Media Guide. Dallas, Texas: Dallas Sidekicks. 1984.

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

External links

• The Year 1984 in North American Soccer 2015-05-18 at the Wayback Machine