Leo & Luiz Mark Return In 6-3 Win
Leonardo de Oliveira marked his return to the lineup with two goals and an assist as the San Diego Sockers defeated the Empire Strykers 6-3 on Friday night at Toyota Arena, the club’s first win of the 2025-26 MASL season. Charlie Gonzalez added a goal and an assist for San Diego (1-1-1, 4 points), while Chris Toth earned the win in goal by stopping 11-of-14 shots faced.
The Sockers defense rose to the occasion against a hungry Empire team that had ended a fifteen-match losing streak against San Diego in the season opener. Young midfielders Jesus Pacheco and Sebastian Mendez provided a high work rate and consistent ability to de-possess the Strykers (1-1, 2 points), while defender Cesar Cerda blocked three shots. The Sockers kept Empire off the scoreboard for a 40-minute period between the late first and mid-fourth quarters, scoring four times in the second half to build a 5-1 lead.
To hit the net, San Diego turned to a pair of players making their season debuts. “Leo” scored the first and last goals of the night and assisted on a back-breaking fourth quarter score, while Luiz Morales netted the go-ahead goal in the third quarter. Nick Perera added a goal, the first scored by a Sockers forward this season, as well as an assist.
A critical fourth-quarter scoring burst of three goals in 1:54 pushed San Diego over the finish line. Leading 2-1 after three frames, San Diego earned their first top-arc free kick four minutes into the fourth after Jose “Bebe” Gonzalez’s steal and pressure forced Empire into a defensive clearance. Mendez tipped a pass to Charlie Gonzalez on left wing, who stepped into a right-footed half-volley for his team leading fourth goal of the year and a 3-1 lead at 4:06. A little over a minute later, Cerda’s long pass up-field was brought out of the air by Leo, who spotted Perera out of the corner of his eye and quickly shoveled a pass to the middle, pushed home by Nick for his first Sockers goal in nine seasons and a 4-1 lead at 5:41.
Nine seconds later, it was 5-1, San Diego on a quick combo play off the kickoff. “Bebe” Gonzalez stole the ball and sent his brother Charlie in down the right wall. Charlie spotted Taylor Bond in the middle, who one-timed his centering pass left-footed into the net for a dagger goal at 5:50. Two late Empire scores from Anthony Powell and Mounir Alami were defused when Leo picked off a pass just inside his defensive yellow line and curled a long shot into the empty net at 11:53.
A taut first half saw both teams play at maximum intensity, with tight positioning and few defensive breakdowns. The Sockers kept up two early-season patterns in the first quarter: quick starts and quicker concessions once leading. San Diego controlled possession in the opening minutes, generating a great chance on their first shift, with Jesus Pacheco’s point-blank shot blocked by defender Robert Palmer in the crease. Sockers' leading scorer Charlie Gonzalez hit the right post in the fifth minute, and in the eleventh, a coaches’ challenge bore fruit to give San Diego the lead.
Making his first appearance of the season for San Diego, midfielder Luiz Morales was held on the back of his jersey attacking goal with 4:31 remaining. As action continued and Morales shot wide, head coach Phil Salvagio threw his challenge flag, and the officials agreed a foul was committed, setting up a free kick. With three tic-tac-toe passes, the Sockers set up de Oliveira in the crease for a crashing goal into the top netting, putting San Diego ahead 1-0 at the 10:32 mark.
However, it took less than a minute for Empire to erase the early lead. Taking advantage of a San Diego missed clearance opportunity and a 2-v-1 overload in the attacking right corner, forward Anthony Powell won the ball at the mid-wall and fed in an onrushing Marco Fabián, who beat Toth near-post for his second goal of the season and a 1-1 tie at 11:28. It was the third time in the last two games the Sockers had scored and then conceded within 90 seconds.
The second quarter saw San Diego out-shoot Empire 12-3, but neither team managed to hit the back of the net. Each team’s keeper came up big in the frame, none larger than the Strykers’ Brian Orozco, who made seven of his ten first-half saves. The Sockers put four quality shots on goal in the final two minutes of the quarter, with Orozco denying Kraig Chiles, Morales (twice), and Sebastian Mendez. On the other side of the floor, Chris Toth stopped a 1-v-1 breakaway chance from Empire’s Abdul Mansaray. Both teams headed to the halftime locker room in a 1-1 draw.
San Diego’s defense held their form in the third quarter, as the intensity ratcheted up another notch between the Southern California rival sides. Empire spent their challenge unsuccessfully halfway into the quarter, trying to find a blue card on a Chiles common foul. Toth stepped up with two big saves, denying Robert Palmer and Justin Stinson’s outside shots. Then, veteran forward Nick Perera made his presence felt. Working hard to win the ball in the middle of the offensive zone, Nick chased down his own pass in the right corner and sent a walla-scora pass off the goal boards into the crease. The ball deflected off a Strykers defender to Morales, who smashed his first goal of the year into the back of the net for a 2-1 San Diego lead at 10:46.
The Sockers defense was asked to increase their degree of difficulty to end the third quarter, as defender Drew Ruggles picked up a major blue card for a swing at Empire’s Cyro Oliveira after the whistle. Sebastian Mendez stepped into Ruggles’ usual penalty killing spot and blocked a shot during the ensuing power play, which San Diego was able to kill off successfully. Toth added a critical kick save to deny Alami late in the fourth quarter, while defender Mitchell Cardenas blocked a possible second Fabián goal with 3:50 remaining. Tight passing allowed San Diego to see out the final three minutes without incident.
San Diego heads into its holiday break with a much-needed win in its stocking and will now prepare to host the Tacoma Stars on Tuesday, December 30, at Frontwave Arena in Oceanside. Fans in attendance will receive a free Sockers hat with their ticket purchase. Single-match and group tickets are available at frontwavearena.com and sdsockers.com.