Pardo Shines In 8-0 Shutout
Boris Pardo stopped all ten shots he faced for his first career regular-season shutout, as the San Diego Sockers cruised past the Tacoma Stars 8-0 on Tuesday night at Frontwave Arena. Charlie Gonzalez and Sebastian Mendez powered the offense with hat tricks as the Sockers (2-1-1, 7 points) emphatically earned their first home win of the season on their third try.
The all-time MASL wins leader with 139, Pardo added a fourth quarter assist while collecting ten saves, including a point-blank one-armed stop in the first quarter with the score 0-0. With 1,993 career saves, Pardo is seven away from becoming the second goalkeeper in league history with 2,000, where he will join his teammate, Chris Toth. The timing of the performance couldn’t be better or more important, as the Sockers lost Toth to a broken finger during training that will keep him out for at least six weeks.
“It’s nice to get the recognition, but these defenders are special,” said Pardo after the match, “It’s them. They made a lot of defensive plays to keep us in it.”
With San Diego jumping out to a 6-0 halftime lead, the crowd of 3,077 at Frontwave Arena turned its attention more toward the “0” on the scoreboard as the night progressed. Defenders Drew Ruggles and Jose “Bebe” Gonzalez each cleared a ball off the line that could have put Tacoma on the board in the second half, while players laid out for a total of eight blocked shots. Pardo’s save of Eddie Na with 5:41 remaining was his last of the night, eliciting waves of cheers from the supporters group perched behind his net.
Pardo’s feat was the third regular-season shutout in modern Sockers (2009-present) history. Riley Swift had the first modern Sockers shutout in a 5-0 win at Tacoma on February 5, 2011, while Chris Toth authored the first MASL shutout for San Diego on November 21, 2017 against the Ontario Fury (now Empire Strykers). Pardo had previously teamed with Xavier Snaer-Williams on a playoff shutout against the Texas Outlaws on April 10, 2023.
After a quiet opening eight minutes, the Sockers broke the first quarter open on a series of opportunistic takeaways and conversions. Felipe Gonzalez, making his season debut after missing almost all of last year with a knee injury, stole a pass just outside the offensive zone and spotted Taylor Bond in the middle of the field. The veteran took a step to his left and slid a left-footed shot underneath goalkeeper Luis Birrueta for a 1-0 lead at 8:27. It was Bond’s fourth goal of the season, continuing a renaissance run for the 37-year-old forward.
Moments later, the pattern repeated as Jesus Pacheco picked off a Stars distribution in the defensive zone and selected a wide-open Sebastian Mendez in front of the net, banging his pass off the goal boards for a “walla-scora” to Sebastian Mendez, who left-footed the ball home for his first goal of the night and season at 9:42, doubling the lead. Less than three minutes later, captain Kraig Chiles picked up a loose ball and came forward with room to shoot 2-v-1. Instead of taking the shot, Chiles calmly chipped a pass across the goal mouth to Charlie Gonzalez, who knocked home his fifth goal of the season on a laser off Birrueta’s leg and in at 12:15, giving San Diego a 3-0 advantage.
Buoyed by their strong and advantageous play, the Sockers kicked their performance up a notch in the second quarter, controlling the flow as much as the scoreboard. Forward Tavoy Morgan executed a perfect hold-up play from his target position, accepting a pass on the left wing with back-to-net and holding off the defender while Charlie Gonzalez ran the middle of the floor. Morgan’s pass hit Charlie in the middle, where his spinning shot bounced off Birrueta’s glove and in for a 4-0 lead at 7:10.
Special teams carried the quarter from there, as the Sockers scored both short-handed and on the power play. Sebastian Mendez was the finisher of both plays, netting his short-hander on a beautiful lead-pass from Jesus Pacheco, who was sent forward by Cesar Cerda’s steal and pass. Three minutes later, Mendez snuck in from the right post to accept a twisting service off Charlie Gonzalez’s foot for his hat trick goal at 12:37, and a 6-0 halftime lead.
Drew Ruggles scored his second goal of the season (and the 99th of his career) on a point-blank deflection of a pass-out from the Tacoma crease at 10:13 of the third quarter, and Charlie Gonzalez ran underneath Pardo’s immaculate throw-out at 1:19 of the fourth quarter to finish his hat trick and set the final score at 8-0. Nick Perera appeared in his 200th MASL match for the Sockers but was held scoreless.
San Diego next hosts Empire on Saturday night for a 7:00pm kickoff, before traveling up to Tacoma on Sunday evening for a return engagement with the Stars. Saturday’s match will air live on Fox Sports 2. Tickets are available at frontwavearena.com or sdsockers.com.