1978–79 Major Indoor Soccer League season

Major Indoor Soccer League
Season	1978–79
Champions	New York Arrows
Matches played	72
Top goalscorer	Fred Grgurev (46 goals)
Average attendance	4,282
	← First season 1979–80 →

The 1978–79 Major Indoor Soccer League season was the first in league history and would end with the New York Arrows winning the first MISL title.

Recap

The league would begin with six teams and a 24-game schedule beginning in December 1978 and ending in March 1979. The top four teams would advance to a single-game semifinal and a best of three championship series. League attendance would average 4,453 per game.^[1]

Signs were good that the league would have a long-time presence. The early games drew strong crowds, as Philadelphia sold out the Spectrum for their opener, leading the league in attendance. The first expansion team was announced on December 13, nine days before the first game in league history, as the Buffalo Stallions were slated to start play in the 1979-80 season. 10,386 fans were in the Nassau Coliseum to see the Cincinnati Kids play the Arrows in the league's first game.^[2]

Despite finishing in a solid third place, Cincinnati folded after the season.

Teams

Team	City/Area	Arena
Cincinnati Kids	Cincinnati	Riverfront Coliseum
Cleveland Force	Cleveland	Richfield Coliseum
Houston Summit	Houston	The Summit
New York Arrows	Uniondale, New York	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Philadelphia Fever	Philadelphia	The Spectrum
Pittsburgh Spirit	Pittsburgh	Civic Arena (Pittsburgh)

Map of clubs

Kids

Force

Summit

Arrows

Fever

Spirit

1978-79 Major Indoor Soccer League clubs

Regular season

Schedule

The 1978–79 regular season schedule ran from December 22, 1978, to March 18, 1979. ^[3] Each team played a schedule of 24 games.

Final standings

Playoff teams in bold.

	W	L	Pct.	GB	GF	GA	Home	Road
Houston Summit	18	6	.750	--	175	114	11-1	7-5
New York Arrows	16	8	.667	2	176	136	8-4	8-4
Cincinnati Kids	16	8	.667	2	154	129	10-2	6-6
Philadelphia Fever	11	13	.458	7	141	154	5-7	6-6
Pittsburgh Spirit	6	18	.250	12	123	171	4-8	2-10
Cleveland Force	5	19	.208	13	94	159	4-8	1-11

Team attendance

Club	Games	Total	Average
Philadelphia Fever	12	90,176	7,515
New York Arrows	12	65,350	5,446
Houston Summit	12	43,472	3,623
Cincinnati Kids	12	38,287	3,191
Cleveland Force	12	37,393	3,116
Pittsburgh Spirit	12	33,206	2,801
OVERALL	72	308,284	4,282

Regular season statistics

^[4]

Scoring leaders

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

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Fred Grgurev	Philadelphia Fever	24	46	28	74
Steve Zungul	New York Arrows	18	43	25	68
Kai Haaskivi	Houston Summit	22	39	25	64
Branko Segota	New York Arrows	21	25	22	47
Doug Wark	Cincinnati Kids	22	29	16	45
Joey Fink	Philadelphia Fever	22	30	14	44
Ian Anderson	Houston Summit	21	29	13	42
Stewart Jump	Houston Summit	21	21	18	39
John Stremlau	Houston Summit	24	16	21	37
Alberto Alves	Philadelphia Fever	24	20	16	36

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
Paul Hammond	Houston Summit	17	1010	70	4.16	13	3
Keith Van Eron	Cincinnati Kids	23	1237	104	5.04	15	7
Shep Messing	New York Arrows	22	1236	107	5.19	14	7
Woody Hartman	Philadelphia Fever	22	1237	120	5.82	10	10
Roland Skinner	Houston Summit	8	453	44	5.83	5	3
Jim May	Cleveland Force	12	529	53	6.01	1	6
Pete Mannos	Pittsburgh Spirit	16	880	159	3.02	5	9
Rich Brands	Cleveland Force	13	533	71	7.99	1	8

Playoffs

Bracket

Semifinals Single match			Championship series Best-of-three

1	Houston	3

4	Philadelphia	6
			4	Philadelphia	0

			2	New York	2
2	New York	9

3	Cincinnati	4

Semifinals

March 11	Houston Summit	3–6	Philadelphia Fever	The Summit • 4,683

March 13	New York Arrows	9–4	Cincinnati Kids	Nassau Coliseum • 4,411

Championship Series

Higher seed		Lower seed	Game 1	Game 2	Mini-game
New York Arrows	-	Philadelphia Fever	14–7	9–5	x	March 23 • Nassau Coliseum • 8,640 March 25 • The Spectrum • 6,096

Playoff statistics

^[5]

Playoff scoring

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

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Steve Zungul	New York Arrows	3	15	4	19
Branko Segota	New York Arrows	3	7	3	10
Pat Ercoli	New York Arrows	3	1	7	8
Alberto Alves	Philadelphia Fever	3	2	5	7
Luis Alberto	New York Arrows	3	1	5	6

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
Ian Anderson	Houston Summit	1	1	0	0.00	0	0
Shep Messing	New York Arrows	3	170	15	5.30	3	0
Enzo DiPede	New York Arrows	2	10	1	5.88	0	0
Paul Hammond	Houston Summit	1	59	6	6.12	0	1
Woody Hartman	Philadelphia Fever	2	93	10	6.45	1	1

League awards

Most Valuable Player: Steve Zungul, New York
Scoring Champion: Fred Grgurev, Philadelphia
Pass Master: Fred Grgurev, Philadelphia
Goalkeeper of the Year: Paul Hammond, Houston
Coach of the Year: Timo Liekoski, Houston
Championship Series Most Valuable Player: Shep Messing, New York

All-MISL team

First Team	Position	Second Team
Shep Messing, New York	G	Paul Hammond, Houston
Fred Grgurev, Philadelphia	D	Ty Keough, Cincinnati
Ian Anderson, Houston	D	Tommy Mulroy, Pittsburgh Alan Hamlyn, Cleveland
Doug Wark, Cincinnati	M	Joe Fink, Philadelphia
Kai Haaskivi, Houston	F	Stewart Jump, Houston
Steve Zungul, New York	F	Jim Pollihan, New York

References

^ "1978-79 MISL Season Summary". Our Sports Central. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
^ 1980-81 MISL Media Guide. 1980. p. 60.
^ 1982-83 MISL Information Guide. 1982. p. 10.
^ MISL Official Tenth Anniversary Guide. 1987. p. 57.
^ MISL Official Tenth Anniversary Guide. 1987. p. 83.

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

[1] "1978-79 MISL Season Summary". Our Sports Central. Retrieved November 30, 2011.

[2] 1980-81 MISL Media Guide. 1980. p. 60.

[3] 1982-83 MISL Information Guide. 1982. p. 10.

[4] MISL Official Tenth Anniversary Guide. 1987. p. 57.

[5] MISL Official Tenth Anniversary Guide. 1987. p. 83.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]