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.
Recap Expansion would increase league membership to 10 teams. There would be a split into two divisions (the Atlantic and Central). 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.
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.
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. 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. The Stallions qualified due to their 3–1 head-to-head record against the Fever.
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. Pittsburgh would return for the 1981–82 season, however.
Teams TeamCity/AreaArenaBuffalo StallionsBuffalo, New YorkBuffalo Memorial Auditorium Cleveland ForceCleveland, Ohio Richfield ColiseumDetroit LightningDetroit, MichiganCobo ArenaHartford Hellions Hartford, Connecticut New Haven Coliseum Hartford Civic CenterHouston Summit Houston, Texas The SummitNew York ArrowsUniondale, New York Nassau Veterans Memorial ColiseumPhiladelphia FeverPhiladelphia The SpectrumPittsburgh SpiritPittsburgh, Pennsylvania Civic Arena (Pittsburgh) St. Louis SteamersSt. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis ArenaWichita WingsWichita, Kansas Kansas Coliseum
Map of clubs
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.
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
Team attendance ClubGamesTotalAverageSt. Louis Steamers16224,95914,060Buffalo Stallions16136,8928,556New York Arrows16125,0087,813Philadelphia Fever16105,8816,618Hartford Hellions1686,2035,388Pittsburgh Spirit1681,7815,111Wichita Wings1661,6183,851Detroit Lightning1656,3253,520Cleveland Force1649,3203,280Houston Summit1633,4962,094OVERALL160961,4436,009
Regular season statistics
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
Goalkeeping leaders 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
All-Star Game The first MISL All-Star game was played at the Checkerdome in St. Louis, Missouri on February 27, 1980. Players were divided up by division. Rosters spots were determined by peer voting, with additional spots decided by the two coaches. A crowd of 16,892 watched the Central Division squad upset the Atlantic, 9–4. On the strength of three goals and one assist, Pat Ercoli of Detroit was named the game's MVP, with Mick Poole of Houston finishing second, and St. Louis' Steve Pecher third.
Central Division roster Coach: Pat McBride, St. Louis First Team Position Second Team Coach's Additions Mick Poole, Houston G Chris Turner, Detroit – Ian Anderson, Houston D* Stewart Jump, Houston Carl Rose, St. Louis Steve Pecher, St. Louis D George Ley, Wichita# Tony Bellinger, St. Louis Kai Haaskivi, Houston F Pat Ercoli, Detroit Manny Cuenca, St. Louis Flemming Lund, Detroit F John Stremlau, Houston Johnny Moore, Detroit Jim Ryan, Wichita F Norman Piper, Wichita* Clyde Best, Cleveland # Poli Garcia *injured, did not play • #replaced injured player
Atlantic Division roster Coach: Don Popovic, New York First Team Position Second Team Coach's Additions Jim May, Buffalo G Shep Messing, New York – David D'Errico, New York D László Harsányi, New York Bobby Smith, Philadelphia Doc Lawson, Philadelphia D Clive Charles, Pittsburgh Paul Toomey, Hartford Steve Zungul, New York F Juli Veee, New York Steve Buttle, Pittsburgh Branko Šegota, New York F Steve Karasi, Buffalo Damir Šutevski, New York Fred Grgurev, Philadelphia F* Slobodan Jankovic, Buffalo# Iubo Petrović, Buffalo *injured, did not play • #replaced injured player
Match report
Three Stars of the Match: 1. Pat Ercoli, Detroit; 2. Mick Poole, Houston; 3. Steve Pecher, St. Louis
Playoffs Bracket
Division Semifinals March 11Wichita Wings6–5Detroit LightningKansas Coliseum • 6,245
March 13Pittsburgh Spirit5–3Buffalo StallionsCivic Arena • 5,079
Division Finals Higher seedLower seedGame 1Game 2Mini-gameNew York Arrows – Pittsburgh Spirit 6–3 11–3 x March 16 • Civic Arena • 6,300March 21 • Nassau Coliseum • 8,802Houston Summit – Wichita Wings 5–4 (OT) 4–3 x March 18 • Kansas Coliseum • 9,300March 20 • The Summit • 2,641
Championship Game
Playoff MVP: Steve Zungul, New York Arrows (3 games, 10 goals)
Playoff statistics
Playoff scoring 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
Playoff goalkeeping 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 Betts 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
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
All-MISL Teams
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
References
External links The Year in American Soccer – 1980 1979–80 summary at The MISL: A Look Back