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San Diego Sockers Game Notes at Ontario Fury

February 12, 2015 - Major Arena Soccer League (MASL)
San Diego Sockers News Release


San Diego Sockers (14-3) at Ontario Fury (13-5)

DATE: Thursday, February 12th, 2015

PLACE: Citizens Business Bank Arena

TIME: 7:05pm PST

0 ESPN Radio 1700-AM (radio)

GoLiveSportsCast (video)

PLEASE CHECK MASLSOCCER.COM FOR UP-TO-DATE STANDINGS

SOCKERS FACE ONTARIO SEEKING PACIFIC TITLE

The San Diego Sockers (14-3) open a critical two-game road trip in the Pacific Division with a potential closeout game against the Ontario Fury (13-5). The Sockers, who have won eight straight, can clinch the Pacific with a win over the Fury either on Thursday or at home on the 21st. Two wins by Ontario would clinch the division for the Fury regardless of San Diego's result in Las Vegas on Friday. This is the second meeting of the year between the two sides, with the Sockers posting a 7-2 victory on November 16th. The re-fortified Fury have won six in a row and 12 of the last 14 games.

LAST GAME: SOCKERS 7, BLAST 2

One of the Major Arena Soccer League's most highly anticipated games saw a crowd of 6,247 at the Valley View Casino Center for a contest that lived up to the advance billing. Kraig Chiles netted a hat trick and goalkeeper Chris Toth dazzled with a dozen saves as the Sockers held off Baltimore for a half before exploding in a 4-0 third quarter on route to a 7-2 victory over the Blast. A hotly contested game was 0-0 after one quarter and 1-1 at the half. Toth saved a back post sitter just seconds into the third quarter that could have given Baltimore the lead. Moments later, Chiles turned a header assist from Eduardo Velez (goal, two assists) into the go-ahead goal.

(EARLY) WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S

Originally scheduled for Sunday, February 15th, the Sockers-Fury match was moved to the 12th due to a scheduling conflict at Citizens Business Bank Arena. This is the sixth meeting all-time between the Sockers and Fury, and second of three contests in 2014-15. The Sockers are 5-0 against Ontario and 2-0 at the CBBA, although both games were close, San Diego prevailing by scores of 8-6 and 6-5. Owner/coach Bernie Lilavois also went 0-6 against the Sockers with the Anaheim Bolts for an 0-11 record.

CHILES TAKES OVER MASL GOALS LEAD

In his first season as Sockers captain, forward Kraig Chiles is in a much more familiar position: top of the league leaders for goals. With a hat trick against the Baltimore Blast, Chiles improved to 42 goals on the season, two more than St. Louis' Gordy Gurson. Chiles now has scored 40+ goals in four consecutive seasons. In addition, according to MASL/PASL Stats, Sockers captain Kraig Chiles has recorded at least one point in 62 consecutive matches dating back to November 19th, 2011 when he was held pointless in a 7-6 OT win against the Anaheim Bolts. The streak is the longest in PASL/MASL history.

LUIS PIFFER OUT FOR SEASON

The win over Baltimore came at a heavy cost for the remainder of the season. Defender Luis Piffer came down on top of an opponent's foot going for a header early in the third quarter and suffered a non-displaced fracture in his right ankle. Piffer will be lost for the remainder of the season and playoffs.

IN BETTER NEWS...WELCOME BACK NICK

Sockers forward Nick Perera was served a red card during the 13-4 win over Tacoma on January 31st for an intentional head-butt during the first quarter. The MASL originally gave Perera a two-game suspension for the incident, but the Sockers appealed the suspension and it was reduced to one game after video review. Perera, second on the team and ninth in the MASL with 45 points (23 goals, 22 assists), is back in the starting lineup.

MORE INJURY NEWS

Veteran midfielder Chiky Luna missed the Blast game after suffering a sprained ankle in training. Luna has been a participant in training during the week leading up to the Fury game, but his selection for the lineup will be a game-time decision.

TOTH EARNS TEAM OF WEEK HONORS

Sockers goalkeeper Chris Toth was a clear choice for the MASL Team of the Week honors after his twelve save performance against the Baltimore Blast. Several times in the first half Toth was asked to stand tall to prevent Baltimore from taking the lead, including a point blank stop of Drew Ruggles from the middle of the crease. To start the third quarter, Adriano Dos Santos was unmarked on the Sockers' back post and got a clean pass only to be shocked when Toth materialized post-to-post to make the stop. On the season Chris is 10-3 with a 4.82 goals against average.

LIFE STARTS IN THE 30s FOR EDDIE

Eduardo Velez continues the best scoring season of his Sockers career and the second-best of his pro indoor career. With a goal and two assists against the Blast, Velez crossed the 30-point mark for the season (14 goals, 18 assists, 32 points). It's the second time in the career of "El Vaquero" that he has topped the 30-point mark (33 with SD in 2012-13) and trails only his 52-point season as the focus of the Revolucion Tijuana attack in 2010-11. Velez is four assists away from matching his career high in that category.

POWER PLAY PICKING UP POINTS

After a shaky start to the season, the San Diego Sockers are moving up the MASL ranks for power play efficiency. The Sockers have converted on 12 of their past 17 man advantage situations, moving up to third in the league overall in efficiency (52.5%), trailing only Missouri (63%) and Detroit (59%). The Sockers' 21 power play goals rank fourth in the league while their 40 opportunities are sixth.

BOWERS JOINS SOCKERS RADIO FOR HOME GAMES

Thursday's game and all 20 regular season MASL Sockers games will be carried live on ESPN Radio 1700-AM in San Diego. Audio streaming is available at www.espnradio1700.com. In addition, every MASL game has video streaming live on GoLiveSportsCast.com, including all Sockers games. Former Sockers star defender Sean "The Tower of Power" Bowers has signed on to join Craig Elsten on color commentary for the remaining home games of the season including playoffs. Bowers played pro soccer both in the MLS outdoors with the Kansas City Wizards (1996-99) and indoors with multiple teams from 1992-2010, including three stints with the San Diego Sockers (1992, 2003-05, 2009-10) and one with the Baltimore Blast (2001-03). Bowers' appearances on Sockers radio are presented by 619 Futsal.

NEY ANGLES FOR "ROY" CONSIDERATION

Brazilian rookie midfielder Ney continues to ignite the Sockers attack with his creativity and ability to finish and should be considered a top candidate for MASL Rookie of the Year. In just nine games of professional indoor soccer, Ney has a pair of hat tricks and 14 goals overall as well as four assists (18 points). While Ney had just one goal against Baltimore, it was the critical goal of the game, extending San Diego's lead to 3-1 in the third quarter. Ney has converted 14 of his 22 shots on goal this season. He came to the Sockers from Brazilian first-division professional futsal.

MASL NOTES

- Baltimore's Adriano Dos Santos picked up a two-game suspension for both his red card acquired against the Sockers last week, and his accumulation of cards.

- With two wins last weekend, the Missouri Comets improved to 18-0 on the MASL season. The Comets have won 23 straight regular season games dating back to their MISL championship season of 2013-14.

- Long-time L.A. Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda will deliver the ceremonial first kick prior to the Sockers-Fury game. All penalties in the game will be served with Dodger Blue cards.

- The Sockers have reserved a Saturday, March 7th date at the VVCC for the Pacific Division Championship if the team clinches the division. A second-v-third place division game would take place on March 1st if need be.

- With 240 goals in his Sockers PASL/MASL career, Kraig Chiles is now fourteen goals away from Juli Veee's record for goals in a Sockers career (254).

OPPONENT PROFILE: ONTARIO FURY (13-5)

The Ontario Fury (13-5) were the busiest MASL team on the transactions report, adding ten new active players to their 20-man roster in the month of January. The extreme makeover has resulted in a 12-2 surge that has lifted the Fury into second place with a shot at the Pacific Division title. Jamar Beasley, added from Seattle, has scored 17 points in five games with the Fury (13 goals, 4 assists). Since arriving from San Diego in a deal for Luis Piffer, Johnny Topete (10 goals, 4 assists in five games) and Guto (2 goals, 9 assists in four games) have beefed up the Fury attack. Brazilian midfielder Tiguinho is having his best season (31 goals, 21 assists, 52 points) and leads Ontario in scoring. The Fury are the most penalized team in the MASL, serving 50 power plays against. Goalkeeper Alexis Apodaca is 9-5 with a 7.05 GAA.

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