1978 NASL Skelly Indoor Invitational

The 1978 NASL Skelly Invitational was a four-team indoor soccer tournament held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the Tulsa Assembly Center on the first weekend of March 1978.^[1]

North American Soccer League
-1978 Skelly Invitational-

Skelly Indoor Invitational
Tournament details
Dates	March 4, 1978 – March 5, 1978
Teams	4
Final positions
Champions	Tulsa Roughnecks (1st title)
Runners-up	Minnesota Kicks
Tournament statistics
Matches played	4
Goals scored	57 (14.25 per match)
Attendance	3,500 (875 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Nino Zec (5 goals) Randy Garber Milan Dovedan
Best player(s)	Nino Zec Tibor Molnár
← 1976 1978 Schlitz →

Overview

Four teams, all from the North American Soccer League, participated in the two-day event: the Houston Hurricane, the Minnesota Kicks, the Washington Diplomats, and the host Tulsa Roughnecks.

Matches were 60 minutes long and divided into three 20-minute periods, with an intermission between each period. Timed overtime periods, featuring a golden goal winner, would be used to decide any matches tied after 60 minutes. Each session consisted of two games (i.e. a doubleheader). The opening round of matches (Saturday evening's Session 1) would be semi-final games, with the Session 2 matches on Sunday afternoon serving as the third place match and Championship Final respectively. The first match of Session 1 was Minnesota's first time playing indoors.^[2] The second match of Session 1, played on Saturday, March 4, 1978, between Tulsa and Houston, marked the first time the expansion Hurricane faced NASL competition,^[1] and was only the Roughnecks third-ever game.^[3][4][5]

Approximately 3,500 people attended the two sessions. Tulsa won both of its matches and was crowned champions of the Skelly Invitational. Roughnecks forward Nino Zec edged out both teammate Milan Dovedan and Washington's Randy Garber by one assist to lead the invitational in scoring with 5 goals and 2 assists. The tournament's co-MVPs were Zec and Tibor Molnár,^[6] also of Tulsa.^[7] The Kicks were runners-up in the invitational,^[8] with the Dips defeating the Hurricane for 3rd place in the consolation match. The all-tournament squad included four Roughnecks: Zec, Molnar, Dovedan, and goalkeeper, Gary Allison.^[7]

Map of clubs

Hurricane

Kicks

Rough
necks

Diplomats

NASL Skelly Indoor Invitational Clubs

Tournament results

Bracket

	Opening round					Championship Final
	Tulsa Roughnecks		12
	Houston Hurricane		3
						Tulsa Roughnecks		9
						Minnesota Kicks		5
	Minnesota Kicks		8(OT)
	Washington Diplomats		7			Third place
						Washington Diplomats		8
						Houston Hurricane		5

Sessions

Session 1: Saturday, March 4, 1978

7:00 PM CST	Minnesota Kicks	8–7 (OT)	Washington Diplomats	Attendance: 1,500 (est)

9:00 PM CST	Tulsa Roughnecks	12–3	Houston Hurricane

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Session 2: Sunday, March 5, 1978

2:30 PM CST	Washington Diplomats	8–5	Houston Hurricane	Attendance: 2,000 (est)

4:30 PM CST	Tulsa Roughnecks	9–5	Minnesota Kicks

Match reports

Session 1

Minnesota Kicks v Washington Diplomats

March 4, 1978 Game 1	Minnesota Kicks	8–7(OT)	Washington Diplomats	Tulsa, Oklahoma
7:00 PM CST	Bailey 7:55' Romero 12:59' (Moran) Want 18:44' (Villa) Willey 23:59' (Vujkovic) Twellman 25:03' Coker 26:23' (Want) Moran 35:25' Bailey 62:46' (Villa)		Bakić 34:47' Garber 37:08' (Welch) Garber 41:51' Garber 50:45' Mokgojoa 52:14' (Welch) Steele 56:57' (O'Hara) Garber 57:43'	Stadium: Tulsa Assembly Center Attendance: 1,500 (est)

Tulsa Roughnecks v Houston Hurricane

March 4, 1978 Game 2	Tulsa Roughnecks	12–3	Houston Hurricane	Tulsa, Oklahoma
9:00 PM CST	Stamenkovic 3:13' (Gazonas) Zec 14:41' (Stamenkovic) Zec 15:17' (O'Riordan) Dovedon 24:26' Zec 28:09' Dovedon 36:36' (Stamenkovic) Dovedon 40:31' Dovedon 42:39' (Zec) O'Riordan 43:26' McKeown 47:43' (Redfern) Dangerfield 49:05' Molnár 54:31' (Gazonas)		O'Sullivan 25:00' Voccaro 33:32' (Stremlau) Morielli 35:07' (Geerling)	Stadium: Tulsa Assembly Center Attendance: 1,500 (est)

Session 2

Washington Diplomats v Houston Hurricane

March 5, 1978 3rd Place	Washington Diplomats	8–5	Houston Hurricane	Tulsa, Oklahoma
2:30 PM (CST)	Bakić 4:05' (Steele) Cannell 7:36' (Askew) Bakić 11:28' Maseko 27:29' (Mokgojoa) Mokgojoa 28:03' Garber 31:15' Steele 31:35' (Garber) Bakić 51:48'		Morielli 3:22' (Sremlau) Russell 6:14' Russell 30:53' (O'Sullivan) Voccaro 45:13' (Geerling) O'Sullivan 55:43' (Morielli)	Stadium: Tulsa Assembly Center Attendance: 2,000 (est)

Tulsa Roughnecks v Minnesota Kicks

March 5, 1978 Championship	Tulsa Roughnecks	9–5	Minnesota Kicks	Tulsa, Oklahoma
4:30 PM (CST)	Stamenkovic 3:51' (Zec) O'Riordan 4:23' Collins 9:01' (Redfern) Dovedon 27:06' (Molnár) Gazonas 33:27' (Dovedon) Waldron 38:33' Zec 47:43' Stamenkovic 58:08' (Dangerfield) Zec 58:36'		Coker 2:14' Coker 12:35' Moran 29:29' Coker 56:52' (Bailey) Willey 58:22'	Stadium: Tulsa Assembly Center Attendance: 2,000 (est)

Final standings

G = Games, W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, GD = Goal Differential

1978 Skelly Indoor Invitational
Team	G	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Position
Tulsa Roughnecks	2	2	0	21	8	+13	1st place (champions)
Minnesota Kicks	2	1	1	13	16	–3	2nd place (runners-up)
Washington Diplomats	2	1	1	15	13	+2	3rd place
Houston Hurricane	2	0	2	8	20	–12	4th place

Statistical leaders

Scoring

Goals (worth 2 points), Assists (worth 1 point)^[1][7]

Leading Scorers	Goals	Assists	Points
Nino Zec (Tulsa)	5	2	12
Randy Garber (Washington)	5	1	11
Milan Dovedan (Tulsa)	5	1	11
Mike Bakić (Washington)	4	0	8
Ade Coker (Minnesota)	4	0	8
Živorad Stamenković (Tulsa)	3	2	8
Mark Moran (Minnesota)	2	1	5
Gerry Morielli (Houston)	2	1	5
Don O'Riordan (Tulsa)	2	1	5
Matt O'Sullivan (Houston)	2	1	5
Jim Steele (Washington)	2	1	5

*Three players tied with 2 goals 0 assists.

Goalkeeping

GA = Goals Against, GAA = Goals Against Average, SV = Saves, SF = Shots Faced

Leading Goalkeepers	Minutes	GA	GAA	SV	SF
Darryl Wallace (Tulsa)	60	3	3.00	25	30
Gary Allison (Tulsa)	60	5	5.00	unk	unk
Bill Irwin (Washington)	60	5	5.00	19	24
Kurt Kuykendall (Washington)	63	8	7.875	unk	unk

*Minnesota and Houston used multiple goalkeepers in each match.

Tournament awards

• Most Valuable Players: Nino Zec (Tulsa) and Tibor Molnár (Tulsa)
• All-tournament Team: Nino Zec (Tulsa), Milan Dovedan (Tulsa), Randy Garber (Washington), Tibor Molnar (Tulsa), Dale Russell (Houston), Gary Allison (Tulsa)

Non-tournament matches

These were not the only indoor matches played that winter. The four Skelly Invitational participants played a combined 12 additional matches. In fact 10 days later, Houston hosted their own indoor tournament, the Schlitz Indoor Touney. Since a full season of indoor soccer was still two years away,^[9] NASL teams were free to do their own scheduling. There were reports of the league awarding an "NASL Cup" for the best team among those that participated in at least 16 indoor games.^[10] Of the 24 teams in the league, 11 had indoor matches planned. The Tampa Bay Rowdies, for example played eight games. By contrast, the Chicago Sting signed on to play only two games at Washington, both of which were ultimately canceled because of scheduling conflicts with a boat show at the D.C. Armory.^[11] In the end, no team played more than nine games in 1978, and only a handful played more than three.

See also

• North American Soccer League