Indoor Soccer
In the fall of 1986, the San Diego Sockers began working the paperwork to allow Dougherty to try out with the team. Dougherty arrived in California in January 1987 and began training with the Sockers' reserve team. On February 11, 1987, the Sockers traded Gary Collier to the Kansas City Comets in exchange for a foreign player visa. On February 25, 1987, Dougherty moved up to the Sockers' first team. In addition to playing for the Sockers, he later also enrolled at San Diego State University. Whereas his lack of height hindered his development as an outdoor player, it served him in good stead in the indoor game which prized quickness and agility over size and stamina. Over the next five years, he earned four titles as the Sockers dominated indoor soccer. In 1989, he was named the “Championship Series Unsung Hero” as the Sockers knocked off the Baltimore Blast for the title. On August 1989, Dougherty became a free agent and when the Baltimore Blast made him an offer, the Sockers decided not to match it. On September 2, 1989, he signed with the Blast. In 1990, the Blast and Sockers again met in the championship series, this time with Dougherty playing for Baltimore, but the Sockers again defeated the Blast. He became a free agent and returned to England where he received interest from only one fourth division team. He then returned to the United States where he signed with the San Diego Sockers on October 17, 1990. When the Sockers moved to the Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) in 1992, Dougherty left the team and signed with the Buffalo Blizzard of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL). During his two stints with the Sockers, Dougherty had played 204 games and scored 104 goals. At the time, the NPSL was the higher paying of the two indoor leagues. Dougherty remained with the Blizzard for three seasons, from 1992 to 1996. At the completion of the 1995-1996 NPSL season, Dougherty jumped both teams and leagues. On May 1, 1996, he signed with the Houston Hotshots of CISL. That season he was the CISL third leading scorer while the Hotshots went to the championship series, only to fall to the Monterrey La Raza. Dougherty was named All-CISL. The next season, the Hotshots did not go so far in the playoffs, but Dougherty led the league in scoring, garnering both All CISL and CISL MVP honors. The CISL folded at the end of the 1997, leading Dougherty to move to Major League Soccer (MLS)
Read more about this topic: Paul Dougherty
Famous quotes containing the words indoor and/or soccer:
“As a man grows older, his ability to sit still and follow indoor occupations increases. He grows vespertinal in his habits as the evening of life approaches, till at last he comes forth only just before sundown, and gets all the walk that he requires in half an hour.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We want beans, not goals.”
—Mexican steelworkers’ banner at opening ceremony of 1986 World Cup soccer championship.