# 1978–79 Major Indoor Soccer League season

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.
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.
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) |

## Regular season
### Schedule

The 1978–79 regular season schedule ran from December 22, 1978, to March 18, 1979. 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
#### 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 | Semifinals Single match | Semifinals Single match | Championship series Best-of-three | Championship series Best-of-three | Championship series Best-of-three |
| 1 | Houston | 3 | | | |
| 4 | Philadelphia | 6 | | | |
| 4 | Philadelphia | 6 | 4 | Philadelphia | 0 |
| | | | 2 | New York | 2 |
| 2 | New York | 9 | 2 | New York | 2 |
| 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
#### 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 |