San Diego Has a Blast in 10-5 Win over Baltimore
Published on January 24, 2026 under Major Arena Soccer League (MASL)
San Diego Sockers News Release
Leo De Oliveira of the San Diego Sockers (right) vs. the Baltimore Blast
(San Diego Sockers, Credit: Blast/MASL)
TOWSON, MD - Leonardo de Oliveira had a season-high four assists, and Boris Pardo stopped 22-of-27 shots, as the San Diego Sockers defeated the Baltimore Blast 10-5 on Saturday night at SECU Arena on the campus of Towson University. Five different Sockers recorded multi-point efforts, with Andrew Estrella and Jesus Pacheco each netting a brace in the win.
The Sockers (6-4-1, 19 points) concluded a brutal month-long road trip with a 3-3 record, which included a pair of wins in Baltimore over the Blast (4-5-2, 14 points). This one felt even more important, as San Diego played without both of their captains (Kraig Chiles and Cesar Cerda), their top scorer (Charlie Gonzalez), top attacking midfielder (Luiz Morales), and four more injured starters. San Diego burst out of the gates with five goals in the first quarter, then scored five of the final six goals of the night to salt the match away in the second half.
San Diego's goalkeeper Boris Pardo, as he has throughout the month, stood tall to secure the victory. The 41-year-old three-time MASL Goalkeeper of the Year was expected to split time with five-time Goalkeeper of the Year Chris Toth this season, but has been pressed into every-game duty thanks to a broken finger suffered by Toth at the end of December. Rebounding from a pair of starts where he conceded 16 goals, Pardo made huge saves early and late, including a handful of point-blank stops. His 22nd and final save warded off a shot from Alejandro Chavez, followed by a double fist pump and crouching scream. Pardo earned his fifth win of the season and the 143rd of his MASL career, the most of all time.
As is often the case with the cozy dimensions of SECU Arena, the action started fast and furiously in the first quarter, and the Sockers proved to be up for the pace early. The Blast pressured Pardo and forced him into three saves in the first four minutes. Then, San Diego entered a scoring burst. Leonardo de Oliveira weaved his way through the offensive zone and dropped a pass off at the right point for Juan Salazar, whose first-time shot was deflected off a Blast defender and past keeper Jorge Navarrete's diving attempt at 4:08 for a 1-0 lead. Literally seconds later off the restart, Navarrete accidentally passed the ball out of his crease directly to San Diego's Sean Callahan, who re-directed the ball into the net for his first goal of the year, a stunner at 4:20 to make it 2-0.
The Sockers weren't done, and neither were the Blast. Tavoy Morgan drew a foul and a close-in free kick off the left edge of the crease, which Nick Perera calmly slammed through the Blast's defensive wall at 6:40 for his fifth goal of the year and a 3-0 lead. Ninety seconds later, 3-0 had turned into 3-2. Baltimore's Jairo Guevara turned a tight-angle corner kick pass from Jonatas Melo into his sixth goal of the season and a 3-1 score at 7:35, and less than a minute later, the Blast's Nelson Santana sent a second-chance pass down the left wing for Juan Pereira, who took one touch before slotting a goal into the low-right corner of the San Diego net at 8:10, narrowing the score to 3-2. Pereira had another chance to even the score two minutes later, but Pardo guided his outside shot off the crossbar.
Back came the Sockers, using tight quarters to execute on simple chances. Twice in the final four minutes of the first quarter, rookie San Diego midfielder Andrew "Pato" Estrella made himself available for quick passes and turned them into goals. First, he took a feed out of the corner from Leo and turned on it in front of the crease, lifting the ball over Navarrete at 11:01 for a 4-2 lead. Similarly, "Pato" waited for Perera--who worked himself in deep to the right goal wall against multiple defenders--to send a pass back, and when the roll-out came on right wing, he snapped home his second in a row at 14:31. San Diego led 5-2 after fifteen minutes, with 26 shots between the two teams (14-12 Sockers).
The pace slowed somewhat in the second quarter, and Baltimore worked their way back into the match. After successfully defending a Baltimore power play early in the frame, San Diego won a top-arc free kick after Navarrete failed to release a held ball in the crease for over four seconds, but Perera's drop pass for Sebastian Mendez led to a blocked shot and a rush the other way. The ball came to Jairo Guevara, posted up on the right elbow, who tip-toed a pass to Nelson Santana on an overlapping run to the right. Santana took a shot that beat Pardo on the near post at 6:10 for his first goal of the season and a 5-3 score. Santana, a former Sockers champion in 2021 and the oldest player in the MASL at age 48, climbed up on the side boards to exhort the crowd.
Baltimore pulled within one goal thanks to a successful scramble around the Sockers' net. Forward Kevaughn Frater drove down the middle of the attacking zone, shedding San Diego's Adrian Reyes as the two tangled. His back-post pass and the subsequent chance were blocked, but the rebound spilled out to Ober Espina, who pinballed his shot off San Diego's arms and legs and into the net at 9:33 to make the score 5-4. Sockers head coach Phil Salvagio threw his challenge flag, hoping to find a foul on Frater in the build-up, but his challenge was unsuccessful on review.
Less than a minute later, San Diego restored their two-goal lead on a lovely pass out of the defensive zone by defender Mitchell Cardenas, who used a slight hesitation and diagonal delivery to send in Jesus Pacheco on left wing. The former Blast player smashed a low volley inside the right post for his third goal of the season, making it 6-4 at 10:27. Shortly thereafter, a similar run led to an even prettier goal. This time, Leo simply left a ball for Gabriel Costa while leaving the field, and the Kings League star dribbled across two lines on the left wing before sending a snap shot perfectly over Navarrete and inside the mid-right post at 13:07 for his first goal of the season. The Sockers defended a last-second corner kick and carried a 7-4 lead into the halftime locker room.
Baltimore made a change in net at the half, turning to their regular starter Julian Rodriguez after Navarrete surrendered seven goals on 14 shots. It was the keeper on the other side who made the first impact of the third quarter, as Pardo made a point-blank save to deny the Blast's Marco Nascimento a sure goal at 5:45. Less than a minute later, Baltimore was shown a blue card penalty when Jonatas Melo made contact above the shoulders of Tavoy Morgan, leading to a Sockers power play. Empty in their previous nine chances and dead last in the league at 15% conversion, San Diego used a new lineup to great effect, with both Costa and Pacheco joining the man-up unit. The pair linked up for a huge goal, as Costa drifted a pass into the right corner and Pacheco put his laces through the ball, slamming it inside the goal's left-side netting at 7:13 for an 8-4 lead.
While battling through fatigue, injury, and the longest road trip in modern memory, San Diego's defense has been leaky of late, conceding at an average of 6.6 goals-per-match on the trip. The Sockers had a look at their first scoreless quarter in three games when Pardo made another point-blank save to deny Jonatas Melo in the final minute of the third, but on the next trip downfield, Rodriguez threw a ball out to defender Patrick Thompson along the left wall, who bounced a sidewall pass to himself while skating past two Sockers, then threaded a perfect shot into the upper-right corner with 15 seconds left in the frame. The lead was 8-5 going into the fourth quarter, with Baltimore out-shooting San Diego 10-5 in the third.
The final quarter began with a touch of chaos, as Baltimore's Jairo Guevara took a casual swipe with his elbow at San Diego's Sean Callahan, who was running by on his way off the bench. A whistle sounded, and the two teams came together, with Drew Ruggles getting into an argument with Juan Pereira of the Blast. Ruggles was shown a yellow card for dissent, and then a second yellow card as he made his way to the penalty box. However, after a conference, the officials also drew a blue card against Guevara, which led Baltimore's head coach, David Bascome, to angrily protest. The coach was shown a yellow card as well, the fourth card in the flurry.
After an officials' review, the blue card was upheld, and San Diego went on their second power play of the night. The Sockers converted their second man advantage of the match, with Leo picking up his third assist of the night on a feed into Morgan at the edge of the crease. Tavoy spun to his left, then surprised the keeper with a quick right-footed toe-poke inside the left post, good for his third goal of the year at 2:00. The Sockers led 9-5.
Baltimore was denied consistent access into the San Diego zone and pulled their keeper for a sixth attacker with just over six minutes remaining. They could not penetrate the Sockers' defense, and Sebastian Mendez knocked in an empty-net goal at 13:45 to close out the scoring. With Pardo's 22nd and final save, San Diego indeed put a scoreless quarter up on the board to close out the trip, ending a run of eleven straight quarters with goals conceded.
The road trip is over, but not exactly. The Sockers will need to hope for good fortune to avoid the oncoming mid-Atlantic snowstorm that is expected to blanket Baltimore on Sunday and beyond, and to actually board their Sunday flight home. When and if they return, the club will get to prepare for a home match against Tacoma on Sunday, February 1st, a 3:05pm PST kickoff. Tickets are available at sdsockers.com and frontwavearena.com.
Images from this story
 Leo De Oliveira of the San Diego Sockers (right) vs. the Baltimore Blast (Blast/MASL) |
Major Arena Soccer League Stories from January 24, 2026
- Utica City Travels to Tacoma, Falls in Game One in Overtime - Utica City FC
- San Diego Has a Blast in 10-5 Win over Baltimore - San Diego Sockers
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