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 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 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

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

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

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Division Finals

Championship Game

Playoff MVP: Steve Zungul, New York Arrows
Playoff statistics

Playoff scoring