# 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.

## 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

| 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.

### Final standings

Playoff teams in bold.
| Atlantic Division | W | L | Pct. | GB | GF | GA | Home | Road |
| New York Arrows | 27 | 5 | .844 | -- | 296 | 175 | 16–0 | 11–5 |
| Pittsburgh Spirit | 18 | 14 | .563 | 9 | 188 | 191 | 11–5 | 7–9 |
| Buffalo Stallions | 17 | 15 | .531 | 10 | 172 | 197 | 10–6 | 7–9 |
| Philadelphia Fever | 17 | 15 | .531 | 10 | 201 | 197 | 9–7 | 8–8 |
| Hartford Hellions | 6 | 26 | .188 | 21 | 151 | 240 | 4–12 | 2–14 |
| Central Division | W | L | Pct. | GB | GF | GA | Home | Road |
| Houston Summit | 20 | 12 | .625 | -- | 181 | 160 | 14–2 | 6–10 |
| Wichita Wings | 16 | 16 | .500 | 4 | 187 | 173 | 10–6 | 6–10 |
| Detroit Lightning | 15 | 17 | .469 | 5 | 192 | 201 | 8–8 | 7–9 |
| St. Louis Steamers | 12 | 20 | .375 | 8 | 177 | 184 | 8–8 | 4–12 |
| Cleveland Force | 12 | 20 | .375 | 8 | 152 | 179 | 8–8 | 4–12 |

### Team attendance

| 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 |

### 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 | Laszio Harsanyi, 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 Single match | Division Semifinals Single match | Division Semifinals Single match | Single match Best-of-three | Single match Best-of-three | Single match Best-of-three | Championship Game Single match | Championship Game Single match | Championship Game Single match |
| A2 | Pittsburgh Spirit | 5 | | | | | | |
| A3 | Buffalo Stallions | 3 | | | | | | |
| 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 | | | | | | | C2 | Houston Summit | 5 |
| C3 | Detroit Lightning | 5 | | | | | | |
| C3 | Detroit Lightning | 5 | C1 | Houston Summit | 2 | | | |
| | | | C2 | Wichita Wings | 0 | | | |

### Division Semifinals

| March 11 | Wichita Wings | 6–5 | Detroit Lightning | Kansas Coliseum • 6,245 |
| March 13 | Pittsburgh Spirit | 5–3 | Buffalo Stallions | Civic Arena • 5,079 |

### Division Finals

| Higher seed | | Lower seed | Game 1 | Game 2 | Mini-game | |
| New York Arrows | – | Pittsburgh Spirit | 6–3 | 11–3 | x | March 16 • Civic Arena • 6,300 March 21 • Nassau Coliseum • 8,802 |
| Houston Summit | – | Wichita Wings | 5–4 (OT) | 4–3 | x | March 18 • Kansas Coliseum • 9,300 March 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 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 |

## 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 |