MASL San Diego Sockers

San Diego Sockers January 3rd Match Preview and Game Notes

Published on December 31, 2015 under Major Arena Soccer League (MASL)
San Diego Sockers News Release


Carlsbad, CA - The San Diego Sockers will look to move into a tie for second place in the Pacific Division when the club travels to Washington to take on the Tacoma Stars on Sunday at the ShoWare Center.

Kick-off is scheduled for 5:05pm PT.

The Sockers sit three points behind Sunday's opponents and a win would draw the sides level on 21 points after 11 games.

San Diego will look to start 2016 just as it ended 2015, with a comprehensive win on the road.

The Sockers are coming off an emphatic 11-5 victory over Atletico Baja in Tijuana, Mexico.

Matt Clare continued his scoring streak with a hat-trick to take his tally to 13 for the season and nine in his last four games.

Kraig Chiles had his second four assists performance of the season and now has 11 in his last four games to climb to second in the Major Arena Soccer League in helpers with 16.

Enrique Tovar's two-goal performance was recognized with a spot on the MASL Week 10 Team of the Week. Chris Toth, Clare and Chiles also received honorable mention.

While Chiles and Clare have been stealing the headlines over the last few games, the win in Tijuana was truly a team effort with everyone playing their part. Whether it was Jonatan Santos and Evan McNeley stepping in front of shots or Rey Reza joining the attack from midfield on almost every occasion, the rolls now seem to be more clearly defined.

By no means was it a vintage first half of the season for the Sockers who are 6-4 at the midway point. With eight new players entering the fray for the 2015-2016 it's taken the team some time to find the right chemistry. The feeling in the camp heading into the Tacoma match, however, is that the team has turned a corner.

"I think we're finally gelling," midfield workhorse Chad Hagerty said after the Atletico Baja match. "The first time that we really started to feel like a team was in Harrisburg, but now It feels completely different. We are all on the same page"

The team chemistry may change just a bit with this week's addition of Luan Sales Oliveira. The 27-year-old Brazilian joins from the Ontario Fury for future consideration and is thought by many to be one of the MASL's most potent midfielders.

Whether he travels to Tacoma or not remains to be seen, but what needs to stay the same regardless is the high pressure and free flowing movement from the first whistle that has propelled the Sockers to two straight victories.

While the San Diego has been chomping at the bit over the holiday season, Tacoma has not played since December 19th. In their last match, the Stars held on for a 5-4 victory over the Las Vegas Legends. The win was the last of a four game road-trip in which Tacoma did well to go 2-2.

While the Stars are second in the Pacific Division with a 7-4 record, they are just 1-3 against Pacific Division teams.

Tacoma's roster is largely based around some of the area's best players including the Cox brothers in former Real Salt Lake's Raphael and the younger Jamael.

Another local product is probably one of the best indoor goalkeepers of the modern era in Danny Waltman. Phil Salvagio and his Sockers' players know Waltman well as the Gig Harbor native backstopped the Americans' successful campaign in last summer's WMF World Cup.

One player that is not from Washington, but will be very familiar to the Sockers is Dan Antoniuk. The Philadelphia native had eight goals and four assists in 18 regular season appearances for San Diego last year.

Antoniuk is second on the Stars in scoring with 11 goals in 10 games played, just two points behind Derek Johnson who leads Tacoma with seven goals and six assists in 11 outings.

For San Diego, the match in Tacoma is the start of another tough stretch. After Sunday's match the Socker's will fly back to Southern California on Monday and will be right back on the field on Tuesday for its first home match of 2016 against another traditional indoor soccer powerhouse in the Milwaukee Wave.

Check out the San Diego Sockers Statistics

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Major Arena Soccer League Stories from December 31, 2015


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