Match Preview At Empire
The San Diego Sockers—presented by Kaiser Permanente—travel up the I-15 to Ontario, California to take on the Empire Strykers on Friday, December 12 at the Toyota Arena, their first road match of the 2025-26 Major Arena Soccer League schedule. The match is set for a 7:20pm PST kickoff and will be telecast live across the U.S. on the CBS Sports Golazo Network, with international coverage on Fox Sports Mexico, Sportworld, and the Unbeaten Network.
The Sockers (0-1-1, 1 point) have dropped back-to-back home games to start the season, ending a perfect 15-0 run at Frontwave Arena, which began with the opening of the building in 2024. San Diego begins the third weekend of MASL action in sixth place in the eight-team standings table, an unfamiliar position for a club that has won 20+ matches three times so far in the 2020s, including a 20-4 record in 2024-25. Of note, the Sockers came out of their second match last season with only two standings points (1-1 record with OT win), one more than this season, and rallied for second in the table. Friday’s match will be the first of twelve on the road, where the Sockers went 8-4 last season.
San Diego’s last match saw the club shut out over the final 30 minutes in an 8-4 loss to the Milwaukee Wave on Sunday, December 7. A back-and-forth first half saw San Diego grab leads of 1-0 and 2-1, before the Wave poured in four goals during the second quarter. Trailing 5-4 at the half, the Sockers saw Milwaukee’s defense shut down the San Diego attack, while the Wave used a power play and an empty-net goal to help pad the lead. Charlie Gonzalez led the Sockers with two goals and an assist, while three Wave players (Oscar Flores, Alex Steinwascher, Ricardo Carvalho) netted a brace in the win.
Friday’s match is the second of six meetings between the Sockers and the Strykers this season. Meeting three times in the first six matches, the clubs are sure to renew their bitter acquaintance. Empire celebrated ending San Diego’s perfect home streak in the season opener, a 5-4 overtime win on November 28. In the match, Mounir Alami of Empire scored a brace, including the overtime game-winning header goal, finishing a long-range high-speed cross from goalkeeper Brian Orozco. Empire rallied from a 4-3 fourth-quarter deficit to earn the win and two points. The win ended a 15-match winning streak for San Diego against Empire (regular season and playoffs combined). Overall, the Sockers have a lifetime 47-10 record against the Ontario/Empire franchise.
The Strykers (1-0, 2 points) have not played since their season-opening win over San Diego. The club has set expectations for a large crowd at the home opener, adding to the juice of the rivalry. Empire is led once again by the midfield attacking duo of Justin Stinson (32 goals, 41 points in 2024-25) and Marco Fabián (60 goals in first two seasons). Fabián picked up a goal in the season opener, joining Alami, Abdul Mansaray and Jorge DeLeon. Goalkeeper Brian Orozco dazzled with 10-of-13 saves (.769 SV%) and the match-winning assist over 48 minutes of play.