Empire Edges San Diego 5-4 in OT
Published on February 16, 2026 under Major Arena Soccer League (MASL)
San Diego Sockers News Release
Drew Ruggles (left) and Juan Salazar of the San Diego Sockers vs. the Empire Strykers
(San Diego Sockers)
Mounir Alami scored his second goal of the match with 28 seconds remaining in golden goal overtime, lifting the visiting Empire Strykers to a 5-4 victory over the San Diego Sockers on Sunday evening at Frontwave Arena. A crowd of 4,375 saw the Sockers (9-4-2, 27 points) rally from two goals down in the fourth quarter to force overtime, but a road-weary team couldn't finish the job against the Strykers (6-9, 16 points), who improved to 3-2 against San Diego this season.
The result for the Sockers ended a day that was both long, miserable, and now potentially momentous in the worst way. The raucous home arena was silenced with 7:04 remaining in overtime when star midfielder Charlie Gonzalez got his legs twisted with an Empire defender, falling over him in the right corner and suffering a major leg injury. Medical personnel rushed to Gonzalez's aid, and he was taken away on a wheelchair that allowed his leg to be immobilized. The entire Sockers team gathered around the team leading scorer, who covered his face with his jersey as he was taken off the field and to the hospital. The club will offer more news on Gonzalez's condition when possible.
San Diego played in Kansas City the night before, needing 70 minutes of play and four rounds of shootout to pull out a 7-6 win. After getting into their hotel around midnight, the club was back out on the road at 4:15am for two flights, heading first to Denver, then San Diego. By the time players were able to gather their things and leave the airport, the only place to go was the arena to play the match. The result was a club that rotated out several veterans, but saw levels of exhaustion from each player asked to do the double-header.
Empire, by contrast, played its first match of the week, and the fresh legs proved crucial in the final moment. Dayerson Graterol intercepted a simple pass between two Sockers and sent Isaak Somow forward into the attacking right corner. His wall pass bounced to Alami, who evaded a late attempt to mark and tapped home the match-winner, his second golden goal in Frontwave Arena this season.
For San Diego to even emerge with a point, it took one of the most remarkable goals in Frontwave Arena's young two-year history. Trailing 4-3 late in the fourth quarter, midfielder Leonardo de Oliveira (goal, two assists) intercepted a pass outside his defensive yellow line, took one step toward midfield, and then unleashed a curving strike across over half the field, which caught Empire keeper Brian Orozco out of the net. The ball majestically arced into the middle of the net at 11:33, capping two goals in seventeen seconds for San Diego to turn 2-4 into 4-4. Nick Perera had previously cashed in a power play for too many men on the field with a parabola into the net that was confirmed to be a good goal on video review after it was cleared out by All-Star defender Robert Palmer.
Nathanael Linquist, a 27-year-old rookie out of Azusa Pacific University, made his first home start after incumbent keeper Boris Pardo earned a day of rest following a night of heroics and head saves against Kansas City. The keeper could do nothing to stop the night's first goal, a pinpoint shot by Empire's Dayerson Graterol, who approached inside the yellow line along the left wall before taking one touch to his right and unleashing a ball that went into the top-right corner at pace for a 1-0 lead at 2:56. The Sockers had a power play later in the quarter which was highlighted by Charlie Gonzalez hitting the crossbar, and later Sebastian Mendez rattled the right post, but neither found the back of the net and Empire held a 1-0 lead after fifteen sluggish minutes, out-shooting San Diego 3-2.
The Sockers picked up their shots during the second period, but many of them were easily read and blocked by Empire, who racked up six blocked shots in the first half. San Diego's defense kept pace with the Strykers attack, even through a self-inflicted power play, given to Empire when the Sockers changed sloppily and had six men on the field. However, coming out of a timeout, San Diego dropped their focus a notch, and the Strykers were able to dribble through their defense. Andy Reyes and Mounir Alami executed a simple give-and-go, where Alami fed the ball to Reyes in the corner and then ran into the middle of the crease, where Reyes' centering pass went past the forward and to midfielder Justin Stinson, perfectly placed to sweep in his eighth goal of the year, Empire led 2-0 at the 8:49 mark, and cruised into the locker room with the same advantage.
Instead of easing into the second half, hotter heads prevailed in the third quarter. After Ali Somow smashed a rising shot over Linquist at 1:13 for a 3-0 lead, the Sockers got one back when Charlie finished a patented low left-wing shot off a Leo service at 3:02 for a 3-1 game. Moments later, the scoreboard malfunctioned inside the arena, and the game had to be stopped. While the officials worked to fix the clock, Charlie had words for lead official Rich Grady and was shown two yellow cards in succession. Remarkably, the Sockers emerged from this with another goal, as moments later, Juan Salazar raced along the left wall and fired a shot that turned into a wall pass, caroming perfectly out to Jesus Pacheco running down the middle for a one-touch goal at 3:52, making the score 3-2.
Seconds later, Sockers defensive captain Cesar Cerda took exception to a blue-card ruled tackle against Empire's Antonio de la Torre, and kicked the Strykers player while he lay on the turf. He was shown a blue and yellow card in tandem for a major penalty, taking him out of the match for seven minutes. Before the quarter was over, Charlie's brother, Jose Gonzalez, took a light common foul from de la Torre and punched his back, earning yet another blue card. Through it all, San Diego warded off the league's lowest-rated power play attack with the league's top-rated penalty kill, but precious time and energy were drifting away. Alami's first goal of the night, at 8:34 of the fourth quarter, on a simple push up the right wall where the tired Sockers defense couldn't keep up, seemed to put all three points in the visitors' pockets. However, a late rally earned San Diego an extremely painful point, as the extra time was when their top midfielder was lost to a potentially long-term and serious injury.
The Sockers will recover before having to get back on the horse and fly to Tacoma on Friday for a Saturday night match against the Tacoma Stars. The team will return home to host the Stars on Friday, February 27, 7:30pm at Frontwave Arena, on Star Wars Night. Tickets are available for all the action by visiting frontwavearena.com or sdsockers.com.
Images from this story
 Drew Ruggles (left) and Juan Salazar of the San Diego Sockers vs. the Empire Strykers |
Major Arena Soccer League Stories from February 16, 2026
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- Blast Topped by St Louis - Baltimore Blast
- Empire Does It the Hard Way, Beats San Diego 5-4 in OT - Empire Strykers
- Empire Edges San Diego 5-4 in OT - San Diego Sockers
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