Match Preview vs Tacoma
The San Diego Sockers—presented by Kaiser Permanente—return from the holiday break to begin a quick two-match homestand and three-match week, taking on the Tacoma Stars on Tuesday, December 30, at Frontwave Arena. The match is set for a 7:00pm PST kickoff and will be telecast live across the U.S. on MASL TV (on YouTube), with international coverage on Fox Sports Mexico, Sportworld, and the Unbeaten Network.
The Sockers (1-1-1, 4 points) are coming off their first win of the MASL campaign, while still in search of their first home win of the season. The club kicked off the 2025-26 schedule by taking back-to-back home losses, an overtime loss to Empire, and a regulation loss to Milwaukee. A road win in Ontario put three needed points in San Diego’s basket, but the club is looking up the standings from sixth place, the final playoff position in the table. The Sockers are 12 points out of first place and five points out of second place, although the first-place Kansas City Comets have played eight matches to San Diego’s three. Tuesday’s match is the first of two in five days at Frontwave Arena, after which the Sockers will travel to Tacoma on Sunday to start a six-match road trip that will keep them out of town the rest of January.
San Diego’s last match was on Friday, December 12 at Toyota Arena in Ontario, where the Sockers secured their first win of the season, a 6-3 decision over the Empire Strykers. Two players made impactful season debuts for San Diego, led by veteran midfielder Leonardo de Oliveira. Coming back from a lower-body injury that sidelined him for the opening two matches, “Leo” delivered the first and final goals of the night, adding a key assist for a three-point game. Also making his season debut was midfielder Luiz Morales, who broke a 1-1 tie in the third quarter with his first goal of the year. The Sockers scored three times in a 1:44 span of the fourth quarter to take control. Charlie Gonzalez added his team-leading fourth goal of the season, Taylor Bond added his third of the year, and Nick Perera notched a goal and two assists.
Tuesday’s match begins the season series between the Sockers and Stars, which will consist of four matches, two home and two away. San Diego will travel to Tacoma on Sunday, January 4, as the tail end of a back-to-back, following a Saturday home match against Empire. The clubs will meet again in Oceanside on February 1, and in Tacoma on February 27. Competitors against one another since the MISL days of the 1980s, the Sockers hold an all-time record of 81-24 against the Stars. In the MASL, the numbers are a much more dominant 40-5 in favor of San Diego. The Sockers have never had a losing season against Tacoma in the MASL. The Stars went 1-1 against San Diego in the 2021 COVID season, before losing twice in the playoffs to the Sockers. San Diego went 5-1 against the Stars in 2024-25.
Tacoma (3-0, 9 points) is off to its second-best start in MASL history, sweeping three home matches to begin. As such, the Stars find themselves tied for second place in the standings table, despite having played three fewer matches than Milwaukee (9 points) and five fewer than Kansas City (16 points). Despite the losses of longtime captain Nick Perera and Goalkeeper of the Year Chris Toth to San Diego, the Stars have rolled behind understudy Luis Birrueta, who has posted 33 saves (.767 SV%) and a GAA of 3.33. Tyler John leads Tacoma with four goals.
Tickets are on sale now at SDSockers.com/Tickets or Frontwavearena.com.