Match Preview vs Empire
The Sockers return home for a challenging Presidents’ Day Weekend back-to-back, taking on the Empire Strykers on Sunday afternoon at Frontwave Arena in Oceanside. The match is set for a 4:00pm PST kickoff, and will be televised domestically on Fox Soccer Plus, MASL+ and MASL TV (on YouTube), as well as supplemental coverage on the National Soccer Network and Victory+, and international coverage on Sportworld, Fox Sports Mexico and the Unbeaten Network.
The Sockers (9-4-1, 26 points) are riding a four-match winning streak which has pushed them within range of the top spot in the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) standings table. The Kansas City Comets are currently in first place with 28 points, and the Milwaukee Wave is in second with 27 points, although San Diego has three matches in hand on Kansas City. Milwaukee will play at Tacoma on Sunday night, and a Milwaukee regulation or overtime loss combined with a San Diego regulation win would put the Sockers at the top of the table.
San Diego will be battling both the Strykers and fatigue on Sunday afternoon, as the MASL schedule has forced the club into a difficult position. After playing and beating Kansas City in an overtime shootout on Saturday night, the Sockers had to board a pre-dawn flight out of Missouri on Sunday morning, with a quick layover and transfer in Denver. The club is scheduled to land at Lindbergh Field at 10:00am before the 4:00pm kickoff in Oceanside. Empire has not played all week and will be fresh and waiting, with a chance to practice on the Sockers’ home field on Sunday morning.
While the Sockers will be bone tired, they will also have the pleasant memory of coming out ahead in an epic contest against the Kansas City Comets on Saturday night. In front of a crowd of almost 4,000 at Cable Dahmer Arena, San Diego emerged with a comeback 7-6 victory in an overtime shootout. The Sockers fell behind 5-2 midway through the third quarter before rallying with four straight goals to take a 6-5 lead with 3:10 remaining in the fourth. Kansas City scored a dramatic equalizer from Dominic Francis with just two seconds left on the clock to force overtime, and after a spirited but scoreless ten-minute golden goal period, the match went to a three-round shootout. Tied 1-1 after three rounds, the Sockers won in the fourth round of shootouts as Boris Pardo (18-of-24 saves, 3-of-4 shootout) stopped Nacho Flores’ shot with his face, and Charlie Gonzalez scored past KC keeper Phillip Ejimadu for the match winner.
Sunday is the fifth of six meetings between the Sockers and the Empire Strykers. The clubs are 2-2 against one another in the 2025-26 season, with each team winning once at home and once away. The matches in San Diego have been tense and close, with Empire pulling out a 5-4 (OT) win in the season opener, and the Sockers responding with a 4-3 regulation win on January 3. The matches at Toyota Arena have been more decisive, with San Diego winning 6-3 on December 12, and the Strykers posting a 9-5 win on January 22. The clubs will meet a sixth and final time on March 5 in Ontario. San Diego’s overall mark against Empire/Ontario stands at 49-11.
The Strykers (5-9, 14 points) have lost three in a row and sit just outside of playoff position in the MASL table, resting in seventh place, three points behind sixth-place Baltimore. The Blast play at Utica on Sunday, and will have a match in hand on the Strykers after Sunday’s action. Empire’s 5.0 goals-per-match scoring average is second-worst in the league (Tacoma, 4.8). The club announced a trade with Utica prior to matchday, acquiring forward Barbaro Shelier from Utica City FC in exchange for an undisclosed transfer fee. Shelier steps right in as the Strykers’ leading scorer with (11-4=15) points in thirteen matches played. Mounir Alami leads incumbent Strykers with (7-7=14) points. Top defender Robert Palmer has 31 blocked shots, second in the MASL. Goalkeeper Brian Orozco has slumped of late, stopping only 15-of-34 shots (.441 SV%) over his past three starts.