Sockers Down Strykers Before 4,164
Kraig Chiles broke a 3-3 tie in the fourth quarter with his first goal of the season as the San Diego Sockers held off the Empire Strykers 4-3 on Saturday night at Frontwave Arena in front of a crowd of 4,164, good for the club’s third win in a row. The Sockers (3-1-1, 10 points) improved to a third-place tie in the MASL table, handing Empire (1-5, 2 points) their fifth straight loss.
A typically tense affair between two familiar Southern California teams took on a defensive cast from the start, with both clubs playing a physical and focused brand of indoor football. After building a 2-0 lead in the first quarter, the Sockers saw Empire answer back with a pair of their own to tie the match 2-2 at the half. Marco Fabián’s third goal of the season gave the Strykers their first lead of the night 4:54 into the third quarter, but San Diego answered back on goals by Tavoy Morgan and Chiles to secure the lead seven minutes into the fourth quarter.
“It felt good to kind of get the monkey off my back,” said Chiles, who scored his 506th career goal but waited for his fifth game to do so for the first time in his career, “When you’re (41), it’s mostly about winning games. It took a little bit of time, but I think we’re only going to get better from here.”
Coming off his first career regular-season shutout, goalkeeper Boris Pardo earned his 140th career win by stopping six of nine shots, giving him 1,999 career MASL saves. Pardo will have a chance to reach the 2,000 save mark when the club plays Sunday in Tacoma.
Quick starts have become an early trend for the Sockers, who scored the first goal of the match for the fifth straight time to begin the season. After an efficient and tactical first eight minutes of action, San Diego broke through at 9:05 of the first quarter. Luiz Morales pounced on a deflection in the attacking zone from left wing, firing low for a shot that Empire keeper Brian Orozco had to dive to parry one-handed. The rebound sat for the briefest of moments next to him, long enough for Charlie Gonzalez to pounce and push home his team-leading eighth goal of the season from point-blank range for a 1-0 lead.
Three minutes later, Leonardo de Oliveira sparked a quick turnabout with a steal in offensive midfield, played immediately up the right wall to the surging Luiz Morales. The speedster laced another low rocket to far post, this one past Orozco and into the side netting for his second goal of the season and a 2-0 lead at 12:21. The Sockers held their 2-0 advantage through the first quarter horn, extending their shutout streak to five consecutive quarters.
Both coaches successfully took advantage of MASL Video Review in the opening half. San Diego’s Phil Salvagio reviewed an early first-quarter foul, which erased a power play opportunity for Empire. The Strykers’ Onua Obasi threw his flag when San Diego’s Nick Perera had seemingly given San Diego a 3-0 lead on a turning one-man strike out of the left corner. However, the video review suggested Perera trapped the ball using his left elbow, erasing the goal midway through the second quarter.
Empire finally broke through courtesy of a San Diego blue card penalty, as midfielder Sebastian Mendez was called for elbowing with 5:50 remaining in the half. The Strykers pulled their keeper for a 6-v-4 “super power play” and converted on a lovely pass, as Mounir Alami kept a centering feed moving with a running back-heel, sending the ball to Anthony Powell in the middle of the crease for his second goal of the season and a 2-1 score at 10:46. Less than a minute later, Alami’s shot attempt from left wing caromed between two Sockers and off the leg of defender Mitchell Cardenas into the net for an own goal, credited as Alami’s fifth of the season at 11:44. Just like that, what once looked like 3-0 Sockers was a 2-2 tie, which held through halftime.
The Strykers found their third straight goal with some hard-nosed work in the offensive zone, pressuring from corner to corner. Alami scrambled to get his foot on a contested ball right of the net and fired a wall pass to the left wing, where Marco Fabián was waiting to unleash a left-footed shot first-time. The ball snuck past Pardo’s glove and inside the left post for the former Mexican national teamer’s third goal of the season, and Empire’s first lead at 3-2, 4:54 into the third quarter.
Staying patient, the Sockers finally found their way to what had been heretofore a missing element of their attack, goals from their prolific-scoring forwards. On a corner restart after a foul, the ball was passed through all three forwards at once Chiles to Nick Perera on the right wing, who on first touch, sent the ball back to the far post, where Tavoy Morgan was waiting unmarked. Morgan needed only to flex his leg to deflect the perfect pass into an empty net, followed by a joyous celebration as the former 39-goal scorer finally found his first goal of the season at 9:16 of the third quarter.
Still tied 3-3 in the fourth quarter, it was Chiles’ turn to end his goalless streak and put his team in front for good. After just missing on a couple of chances and getting looked off on a quality first-half opportunity, Chiles bided his time until a loose-ball battle situation afforded an opportunity. Nick Perera once again demonstrated the poise that has marked his career, collecting a bouncing ball in the crease and tiptoeing a pass to Chiles through a defender at point-blank range. The Sockers captain, Chiles, spun his shot under the glove of Orozco (12-of-16 saves) and then broke into a smile at 7:00 of the frame.
San Diego led 4-3, but the match was far from over as midfielder Sebastian Mendez collected his fourth foul of the half and sixth of the match just twenty seconds later. Given a power play, the Strykers pulled their keeper for a 6-v-4 attack again, but couldn’t find the net or any golden opportunities. Their best and final chance came with 5.8 seconds remaining, as the Sockers’ Charlie Gonzalez was called for a three-line pass trying to score into the empty net, giving Empire a top-of-zone free kick. Fabián’s pass into the corner was deflected and kicked away by San Diego defensive captain Cesar Cerda to secure the victory.
The Sockers have literally no time to rest, as the club prepares to leave before dawn on Sunday morning for a flight to Tacoma, where the 3-1 Stars lie in wait for a 5:05pm kickoff on MASL TV. The match begins a six-match road trip for San Diego that will take them all the way through the month of January. The Sockers will return home on Sunday, February 1 to take on the Stars in a 3:00pm kickoff at Frontwave Arena. Tickets are available for all remaining regular-season matches at frontwavearena.com or sdsockers.com.