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14-507: Cleveland Force may refer to: Cleveland Force (1978–1988) , a defunct indoor soccer club Cleveland Crunch , a defunct indoor soccer club which played as the Cleveland Force from 2002 to 2005 Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Cleveland Force . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change

28-645: A 32-game schedule in '79–'80. The Force was placed in the Central Division with Houston, which finished the previous year with the best record, and expansion teams in Detroit , St. Louis and Wichita . Cleveland's roster was almost entirely new with only four players from the previous season returning. The result was pretty much the same as the Force tied for last place in the division with the St. Louis Steamers Cleveland made it to

42-730: The Las Vegas Quicksilvers , the team returned as the San Diego Sockers in 1978. They were owned by Bob Bell and played their indoor games at the San Diego Sports Arena . Initially, victories came slowly for the club but mounted quickly and they experienced moderate success over their outdoor history winning several division titles. However, the San Diego Sockers won the North American Soccer League (NASL) Indoor Championships of 1981–82 and 1983–84. Success

56-456: The Chicago Sting . The team was an overnight success. That success continued through the remainder of the team's existence, as it qualified for the playoffs each year and averaged at least 11,000 fans per game each year until the team folded in 1988. Big crowds were commonplace for the next few years as the Force displayed a fan-pleasing high-powered offense. Despite success on the field and at

70-647: The Cleveland Cobras of the American Soccer League in 1977, was the Force's first owner. He sold controlling interest to Cleveland multi-millionaire Bert Wolstein in 1979. Under Wolstein and his son Scott's direction, the club became a rarity in America ;— a professional soccer team that turned a profit. The team's nickname was a reference to the Force , a mystical power used by the Jedi Knights in

84-646: The Continental Indoor Soccer League . The franchise folded in 1996 and was the last surviving NASL franchise. The Sockers are considered the most successful indoor soccer team. They made the playoffs in all but one of their 16 seasons of playing indoors. The team began as the Baltimore Comets in 1974 but moved to San Diego as the San Diego Jaws in 1976. After a one-year stay in Las Vegas as

98-773: The 1996 season. There have been two subsequent revivals of the Sockers. The first was a franchise in the WISL that later joined the second MISL before folding in 2004. A second started play in the PASL-PRO in 2009. Championships (10) Regular Season/ Division Titles (12) Conference Titles NASL Coach of the Year NASL North American Player of the Year NASL All Stars NASL indoor MVP NASL indoor Scoring Champion NASL indoor Goalkeeper of

112-541: The MISL Players Association (MISLPA). The Force started off the '78–'79 season by splitting their first two games. That turned out to be the high point of the season. The team lost 13 of its last 14 games to finish in sixth place, one game behind the Pittsburgh Spirit. Only Brian Budd and Roy Sinclair managed to break double digits in goals, netting 24 and 10 respectively. The MISL expanded to 10 teams and

126-735: The Year Rookie of the Year First Team All-MISL Second Team All-MISL Honorable Mention All-MISL San Diego Sockers (NASL) The San Diego Sockers were a professional soccer and indoor soccer team based in San Diego, California . The team played in the indoor and outdoor editions of the North American Soccer League (NASL) until 1984 as well as the original Major Indoor Soccer League and

140-467: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cleveland_Force&oldid=1141998921 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Cleveland Force (1978%E2%80%931988) Akron businessman Eric J. Henderson, who had been involved in ownership of

154-475: The playoffs for the first time the following season with a 21–19 record, then fell back again in 1981–82. Wolstein then hired Timo Liekoski as coach. Liekoski brought in several players from the North American Soccer League , and the Force had its first truly successful season. Still, Wolstein was not happy with attendance until a flash crowd of 19,106 jammed the Richfield Coliseum for a playoff game against

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168-439: The then recently released film Star Wars . The team theatrics originally included Darth Vader and Star Wars music until the team faced litigation and had to change the "mascot". Scott Wolstein worked out an agreement with George Lucas and a year later, the mascot and music returned. Despite its popularity and success, Wolstein folded the team on July 22, 1988, after repeated frustrations in trying to get concessions from

182-498: The turnstiles, Wolstein grew increasingly displeased with other MISL owners failing to put as much time, effort and money into their franchises as he did. With other clubs folding and Cleveland's attendance starting to tumble, he gave up the quest in the summer of 1988. It was one month after the club reached the championship round for the first time, being swept in four games by the San Diego Sockers . Pass Master Defender of

196-623: Was far from over for the San Diego Sockers. When the NASL folded, the San Diego Sockers moved to the Major Indoor Soccer League and won eight championships: 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1992. The Sockers carried their success from one league to the next. They switched to the Continental Indoor Soccer League for three more years from 1993 to 1995. However, after several ownership changes, Sockers folded after

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