July 24 (1977)

The St. Louis Stars shower goals on the Minnesota Kicks on a rainy afternoon at Washington University’s Francis Field. The Stars boot the Kicks, 4-0, before 6,251 soggy fans. Fred Binney, the Stars’ English forward, scores twice and future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer and St. Louis native Al Trost has two assists. Driving for a berth in the NASL playoffs, the Stars overwhelm one of the league’s better defensive teams. The Kicks had given up 21 goals in their previous 21 games, and goalkeeper Geoff Barnett had a .90 goals-against average and eight shutouts. His bid for a ninth ends in the 28th minute when St. Louis native and U.S. National Teamer Denny Vaninger heads in a pass from Barry Salvage. Trost sets up Binney for the game’s second goal in the 56th minute. Binney makes it 3-0 seven minutes later, and Trost passes to Salvage for the final goal with less than a minute to play. The Stars will end the regular season two games later in second place in the NASL’s Northern Division, and will lose, 1-0, to the Rochester Lancers in the first round of the playoffs. The 1977 season will be the Stars’ 11th and last in St. Louis. The team will move to Anaheim, Calif., and will be renamed the California Surf.