Sockers Acquire Nilton de Andrade

The San Diego Sockers today announced a trade, with the acquisition of midfielder Nilton de Andrade from Utica City FC in exchange for midfielder Juan Salazar. The move was made in advance of the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) trade deadline at 5:00pm EST on Thursday. Both players will be in transit over the weekend, and neither is expected to be available for this weekend’s action.

Nilton, who will turn 30 in March, is in his fourth season in the MASL. The high-scoring midfielder was a MASL All-Star in the 2024-25 season, when he tallied (25-9=34) points in 24 matches for Utica. The year prior, de Andrade logged a career-high (26-15=41) points in 21 matches played. This season, Nilton has been held to six matches total, posting (2-3=5) points and six blocked shots. For his career, de Andrade has scored (65-37=102) points in 74 matches, an average of 1.4 points-per-match. Born on the island of Fogo in Cape Verde, de Andrade moved to the United States, where, after two seasons at Newbury College, he transferred to UMass-Boston. He played three years at UMass-Boston, where he became the first player from the men’s soccer program to be named a First-Team All-American, scoring 32 goals in 39 starts.

Salazar, 25, was signed out of Point Loma Nazarene University in the 2023-24 season and is in his third year in the MASL. This season, Salazar featured in five games for San Diego, scoring (4-1=5) points. The native of Colombia earned top-star honors with a pair of goals in a February 11-4 win over Utica. In his career, Salazar made 30 appearances for the Sockers, scoring (9-5=14) points.

The Sockers are in a tight race for the top spot in the MASL standings table, in a four-team grouping within three points of first place. The club hosts Tacoma on Friday for Star Wars Night at Frontwave Arena. Tickets are available at frontwavearena.com or sdsockers.com.