The 1980–81 Major Indoor Soccer League season was the third in league history and would end with the

New York Arrows The New York Arrows were an indoor soccer team that played in the original Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) from 1978 to 1984. They won the first four MISL championships. History Preparing for the first season In 1978, the New York Arrows beg ...

repeating once again as MISL champions.

Recap

There were plenty of changes as the league began its third year. The

Houston Summit Houston Summit were a professional indoor soccer team that operated from 1978 to 1980. They played in the original Major Indoor Soccer League. In 1980, the franchise was moved to Baltimore to become the Baltimore Blast. Their roster mainly include ...

would move to Baltimore and the

Detroit Lightning The Detroit Lightning was a Major Indoor Soccer League franchise which existed for only one season, 1979–1980. The Lightning finished that season at 15–17. The team's home arena was Cobo Arena. On May 28, 1980, at the end of the 1979–1980 ...

moved to San Francisco. Three new clubs were added – the

Chicago Horizons The Chicago Horizons was a member of the original Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992), Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) for only the 1980–81 season. It was the first of two professional sports league organization, franchises that represented ...

, the

Denver Avalanche The Denver Avalanche were an American soccer team based out of Denver, Colorado that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League from 1980 to 1982. Their home arena was McNichols Sports Arena. History In February 1980, the Major Indoor Soccer ...

and the

Phoenix Inferno The Phoenix Inferno was an American indoor soccer team in Phoenix, Arizona, that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League from 1980 to 1983. In 1983 new ownership renamed the team the Phoenix Pride. The Pride folded at the end of the 1983–19 ...

. With 12 teams, the league moved to three divisions. To accommodate the three-division setup, the playoff format was tweaked once again. The top two teams in each division would qualify, along with the next best two teams for eight qualifiers in total. While the first round was a best of three series, Commissioner

Earl Foreman Earl Marin Foreman (March 29, 1924 – January 23, 2017) was an American lawyer and sports executive. Foreman practiced law in the District of Columbia. He was the owner of the short-lived Washington Whips professional soccer club of the NASL an ...

announced in early November 1980 that there would be single-game semifinals and a final set to be played in St. Louis on the weekend of March 27, 1981. As it turned out, St. Louis pulled off a worst-to-first turnaround in their division with the second-best record in the MISL and made the championship game. In their semifinal against Wichita, the Steamers rallied from a 6-1 third quarter deficit to tie the game and win in a shootout. Over 33,000 fans attended both nights at the

St. Louis Arena St. Louis Arena (known as the Checkerdome from 1977 to 1983) was an indoor arena in St. Louis, Missouri. The country's second-largest indoor entertainment venue when it opened in 1929, it was home to the St. Louis Blues and other sports franchis ...

. New York's

Steve Zungul ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

won regular season MVP honors for the third time, and added the playoff MVP. Zungul scored four goals and an assist in both the semifinal win over Baltimore and the championship game. Zungul scored the game-winning goal with less than 30 seconds left against St. Louis, the last of his combined 123 goals (108 regular season and 15 playoff goals, respectively). The 108 goals would remain an MISL record through the end of the league in 1992. After the season, Chicago folded. The league wanted to return to the market, but

Chicago Sting The Chicago Sting (1974–1988) was an American professional soccer team representing Chicago. The Sting played in the North American Soccer League from 1975 to 1984 and in the Major Indoor Soccer League in the 1982–83 season and again from 1 ...

owner

Lee Stern Lee B. Stern (born December 27, 1926) is the longest tenured trader at the Chicago Board of Trade. He has been one of the most successful traders in the commodities market throughout his time there, and is well known for his involvement in the Chi ...

paid to keep the

Chicago market The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hi ...

for himself and the Sting.

Teams

Regular Season Schedule

The 1980–81 regular season schedule ran from November 7, 1980, to March 8, 1981. The 40 games per team was an increase of eight over the 1979–80 schedule of 32 games.

Final standings

Playoff teams in bold.

Playoffs

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Championship Game

Regular Season Player Statistics

Scoring leaders

''GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points''

Leading Goalkeepers

''Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses''

Playoff Player Statistics

Scoring leaders

''GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points''

Leading Goalkeepers

''Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses''

All-MISL Teams

League awards

* Most Valuable Player: Steve Zungul, New York * Scoring Champion: Steve Zungul, New York * Pass Master: Jorgen Kristiansen, Wichita * Rookie of the Year: Don Ebert, St. Louis * Goalkeeper of the Year: Enzo DiPede, Chicago * Coach of the Year: Don Popovic, New York * Championship Series Most Valuable Player: Steve Zungul, New York

References

External links

The Year in American Soccer - 1981

{{DEFAULTSORT:1980-81 Major Indoor Soccer League season Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) seasons

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...