Sockers Rally Past Blast 9-6
Boris Pardo made 18 saves, and Nick Perera powered the offense with a hat trick and assist, as the San Diego Sockers rallied from a first-half 3-0 deficit for a 9-6 win over the Baltimore Blast at SECU Arena on the campus of Towson University. The Sockers (4-2-1, 13 points) netted seven goals in the second half to earn their second road win of the season, and their first on a six-match road trip that consumes the rest of January.
The story of victory was written in net, where Pardo held strong in the early going and prevented a comeback in the closing moments. The MASL’s all-time wins leader stopped four different one-on-one chances from the Blast (3-3-2, 11 points), who took their second straight loss at home. Pardo made 8-of-11 saves in the first half and 10-of-13 in the second half, including two one-handed diving stops in the closing two minutes. He waved a finger at the Blast attackers to dismiss their final offensive attempts.
San Diego broke a fourth-quarter 5-5 tie with back-to-back goals in the fourth minute. Rookie Adrian Reyes executed a perfect hold-up forward play at 3:06, accepting a pass from Leonardo de Oliveira with back-to-net, stepping back and turning to his right, and lacing home his second goal of the night and third in two games since signing with the Sockers for a 6-5 lead. On the ensuing run of play, San Diego earned a corner kick, and Charlie Gonzalez’s pass up the left wall was slotted home by captain Kraig Chiles at 3:53 for a two-goal advantage.
Baltimore pulled their goalkeeper Julian Rodriguez (8-of-16 saves) for a sixth attacker, but Gonzalez intercepted a pass in offensive midfield and shot calmly into the open goal for his team-leading ninth goal of the season and an 8-5 lead at 9:47. The Blast kept with the desperation offensive strategy and netted a goal from Juan Pereira, but the Sockers quickly got it back on Chiles’ wall-pass assist to defender Mitchell Cardenas, who scored his first goal of the year to wrap up the scoring at 11:03.
The Sockers entered an East Coast weekend back-to-back with one of their most injury-ravaged lineups in memory. A lower-body injury to forward Tavoy Morgan kept him off the trip, joining Chris Toth (hand), Ben Ramin (back), Luis Ortega (achilles), Keko Gontán (personal), and Marcel Sanchez (illness) as possible starters unavailable. In addition, top midfielders Luiz Morales, Sebastian Mende,z and Gabriel Costa were away playing for Team USA in the Kings World Cup in Brazil. The club flew into Baltimore on Friday, but didn’t seem to get their legs under them until late in the first half.
Pardo was put to the test early, with the Blast buzzing the San Diego defensive zone in the opening ten minutes of the match. Alejandro Chavez’s open look from the right slot was knocked away, Pardo played the angle on Jamie Thomas’ hard shot, and then he used veteran savvy to bait Jairo Guevara’s 1-v-1 look into a savable angle, part of a 4-for-4 first quarter. San Diego displayed a determination on defense, with seven different players blocking shots in the opening frame. On the other side of the field, Nick Perera’s chance from right wing hit the left post and stayed out, and Drew Ruggles’ first-time shot on a loose ball nicked the right post in an ultimately scoreless first quarter. Baltimore outshot San Diego 11-3.
The Blast broke through 1:19 into the second quarter for the night’s first goal, stealing a pass in the San Diego defensive zone along the right wall. Chavez’s square pass found Victor Parreiras on the far post for a tap-in goal from three feet away, and a 1-0 Baltimore lead. Chavez’s impact on the quarter would quickly grow, as he picked off Pardo’s clearance by the penalty boxes just over a minute later, and only needed one touch to gain a strong angle on net. His shot sailed over Pardo’s shoulder and off the back of the goal for a 2-0 lead at 2:56. In the fifth minute, it would be Chavez yet again coming open on a quick counter-attack, only to be denied by Pardo one-on-one.
The Sockers’ first great chance to answer came when Baltimore put too many men on the field, a call initially missed by the officials but caught on a red-flag replay challenge by San Diego head coach Phil Salvagio. However, San Diego’s power play came up empty, and in fact, the best chance on the man advantage came for Baltimore short-handed, with Jonatas Melo’s open shot on counter-attack missing just wide. Seconds after the power play ended, Baltimore scored again. Oumar Sylla picked out Parreiras in the crease, who had time to run on the pass sitting juicily in the middle, slotting the ball inside the right post for his second goal of the night. It was 3-0 Blast at the 7:18 mark of the second quarter.
Finally, San Diego broke through in the final two minutes of the half, with a lot of help from the Baltimore defenders. First, Nick Perera took on a double-team in the attacking right corner, and his wall-pass into the crease was kicked into the Blast’s net by their own Alejandro Chavez at 13:02. Perera was credited with his second goal of the season. Then in the final thirty seconds, Ruggles passed Adrian Reyes into the attack along the left wall, and Reyes smashed a wall pass off the goal wall at point-blank range, only to see it kicked into the Baltimore net by the Blast’s Juan Pereira at 14:49 for a 3-2 score-line. In between, Pardo was forced into two more tough saves, denying Patrick Thompson twice at close range. The Sockers went to halftime out-shot 20-11 but trailing only 3-2, with all five goals coming off a Blast player’s foot.
The Sockers completed their comeback less than five minutes into the third quarter. Cesar Cerda’s long pass into the attacking left corner was held by Perera, who put on a classical ball-handling display, stepping on the ball and manipulating it back-and-forth, faking a pass-out only to turn and step to his right, then firing a shot just inside right post for his second goal of the night and third of the season, and a 3-3 tie at 4:53.
The match had turned, and with more confident possession and control, the Sockers started to assert their will. Pinning the ball deep in the Baltimore zone, San Diego found a steal when Leonardo de Oliveira shouldered down a clearance and immediately sent it toward Perera on left wing, who raked home his hat trick goal with a first-time shot for a 4-3 lead at 10:52. Minutes later it was Perera yet again, this time utilizing his hold-up skills on right post before feeding a ball off to Cerda, who launched his shot inside left post for his first goal of the season at 13:15, a five-goal run, and a 5-3 lead. Baltimore pulled one back in the final minute, as Mike Deasel’s wall-pass sat in the crease one beat too long for the San Diego defense’s liking, and Melo stepped into it for his team-leading eighth goal of the season at 14:25.
The Blast opened the fourth quarter by first blocking back-to-back chances for Kraig Chiles in the attacking zone, then executing a perfect throw-out that can only work on a miniature field. Goalkeeper Julian Rodriguez threw a low, hard distribution across three lines, bounding on the right wing to the onrushing Alejandro Chavez, who laced a first-time volley under the crossbar and home at 2:07, tying the match at 5-5. San Diego answered with four goals in eight minutes, and Pardo punctuated the win with two late saves, both coming after turnovers by Ruggles had put the Sockers defense in hot water.
With one win secured and the match completed after 8:00pm EST, San Diego now showers, packs, and boards a bus for an overnight drive through Maryland, Pennsylvania, and then New York to reach upstate Utica, a six-hour trip. The club will arrive in the early hours of Sunday morning only to play at 3:00pm EST/12:00pm PST against Utica City FC. UCFC has not played this week and thus holds the “lying-in-wait” advantage of fresh legs and full rest. Sunday’s match can be viewed on MASL TV on YouTube.