San Diego Sockers Weekly
Published on January 17, 2011 under Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL)
San Diego Sockers News Release
SHORT HANDED SOCKERS TAKE TOWN T.J.
A critical Western Division battle went the way of the San Diego Sockers on Saturday night at Estadio Furati in Tijuana, as the Sockers held off Revolucion Tijuana 6-3. San Diego played without their captain Aaron Susi, plus midfielders Chiky Luna, Brian Farber and Majell Aterado, but got two goals and an assist from Dan Antoniuk to lead the offense. Diego Rovira added two goals as the Sockers improved their record to 8-2 on the season.
US OPEN WESTERN SEMIS SCHEDULED
The Sockers' next game will be a return to US Open play on Friday night, as San Diego travels to Sin City to take on the Las Vegas Knights of the PASL-Premier league. The Sockers played Las Vegas last year and were victorious by a 15-2 score. The winner of Friday night's game will take on Tacoma next month for the right to represent the West in the US Open finals in March.
SOCKERS DEFENSE DAZZLES
While San Diego was missing a great amount of its offensive firepower on Saturday, the Sockers more than made up for the absences with a stifling defensive effort, their best of the season. Goalkeeper Riley Swift, who had avoided Mexico trips after 10 years of traveling south of the border and enduring taunts and threats from fans, answered the call for a big game and allowed a season-low three goals in net. Scotty Martin had an assist and played one of his best defensive games of the season preventing Tijuana strikers Eduardo Velez and Edgar Lemus from scoring a single goal. San Diego's 54 goals allowed and 5.4 goals allowed per game both lead the PASL-Pro.
BARTON CONCUSSED, ROOKIES CONTRIBUTE
Each trip to Tijuana seems to be accompanied by an injury scare for the San Diego Sockers. In their December visit to Furati, Chiky Luna suffered a sprained ankle which sidelined him for four games. On Saturday, defender/forward Josh Barton suffered a concussion when he was struck in the head by a free kick, guarding the back post. Barton was taken across the border to UCSD Medical Center for further evaluation and is questionable for the Sockers' next game. Filling in for their fallen teammates, rookies Mike Mercurali and Dru Hoshimiya earned their first starts of the season at defender, helping the Sockers to allow a season-low three goals.
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