Wright Prepares to Get Up to Speed : Indoor soccer: Socker player hoping to overcome injury in time to hurt Crunch in MSL Championship Series.

CLEVELAND — The word Paul Wright has shaved into the bottom of his hairline in two-inch letters seems to bely his character.

Catch him in an airport waiting for a flight and he’s off in a corner, away from teammates who wile away the time by playing a board-game version of the $10,000 Pyramid.

Wright sees or hears none of the haggling that goes on. He’s over in another aisle listening to a stereo headset.

Speak to Wright and he will look you in the eye and answer politely, but in hushed tones.

Though he speaks softly, his words come across loud and clear, and perhaps none so loud as the one shaved into the back of his head: Wrighteous.

That must be how it feels to be 21 and the third leading scorer on the San Diego Sockers, those eight-time champion Sockers. Their quest for No. 9 continues today (4:30 p.m. PDT, live cable TV and XTRA, 690 radio) against the Cleveland Crunch in Game 5 of the MSL championship series at the Coliseum.

The series is tied two games apiece.

Wright scored 38 goals during the regular season, had a goal in each of the Sockers’ first two playoff games, then had his shooting ability tackled away from him in Game 3 of the Western Division finals.

In that one, St. Louis Storm defender Mark Frederickson stopped Wright on a breakaway by coming in from behind with a feet-first tackle. It is illegal to tackle from behind because of the danger involved. This time, Wright suffered a sprained ankle. There was no whistle.

Wright had to leave the floor. Although he returned for Game 4, he did so with diminished prowess around the net.

Wright has scored only twice since--once in Game 5 of the Western finals, and again Sunday in Game 4 of the championship series.

Both were late, throwaway goals. The one Sunday, in fact, did not come until more than 58 minutes had elapsed.

Wright’s scoring drought has forced Coach Ron Newman to wonder if his speedy forward might be using the injury as an excuse.

“I have to laugh at that,” Wright said as he sat back for the first time in a lengthy interview.

He was not laughing.

“That’s far from the truth,” he continued. “I’m not one to make excuses.”

Wright said he chose to play on the sore left ankle though doctors have told him the only cure is three solid weeks of inactivity.

“This is my life,” he said. “This is what I chose to do. It’s my career. The way I look at it, I’ve got to play.”

And besides, he continued, the team needs him.

“I’m a pretty confident guy,” he said. “Enough to know that even at 70-80% I can do as good of a job as 80% of (my opponents).”

Still, Wright hasn’t been getting the job done. His shot is noticeably weaker than it was during the season and that’s keeping him from doing what he’s paid to do--score goals.

The injury is not to Wright’s shooting foot, but rather to his plant foot. So tender is the ankle that Wright cannot put enough torque on it when he winds up to shoot.

Cleveland goalie P.J. Johns has been pouncing on Wright’s shots as if they were weak bunts down the third-base line.

But Wright says Johns’ easy days are over.

“It felt better (Sunday night) than it did in previous games,” Wright said. “And it even felt better when I woke up this morning. I can walk on it like normal.

“That’s the best news I’ve had in a while.”

Wright just hopes it proves to be bad news for Cleveland.

“If I was 100%, the series might be over by now,” he said. “There’s nothing that they can do. They only have five players on the field and they can’t put all five on me.”

Socker Notes

Paul Wright said one reason he felt better in Game 4 might have been “those pills Billy (Taylor, Sockers’ trainer) gave me before the game. I don’t know what they were, but they seemed to work.” Said Taylor, “They were just Tylenol. I never tell the players what I’m giving them.” . . . Branko Segota (right hamstring) and Waad Hirmez (rib cage muscle) are still questionable for today’s game. Ben Collins has been slowed by a sprained ankle, one that he has been playing on since Game 3. “He’s doing an incredible job and playing in a lot of discomfort,” Taylor said. “It’s really a tribute to him.” Collins is tied for third on the team with nine playoff points and is second in blocks with 12.