Sockers Meet Outlaws In Battle For First Place
January 5, 2024 - Major Arena Soccer League (MASL)
San Diego Sockers News Release
The San Diego Sockers-presented by Kaiser Permanente San Diego-open the 2024 portion of their MASL campaign by hosting the Texas Outlaws on Sunday evening at Pechanga Arena, wrapping up a mini two-match homestand. Kickoff is set for 5:05pm PST. The match will be streamed live on Twitch on channel @masl_soccer.
The Sockers (5-0, 15 points), owners of the best record in MASL history all-time at 154-31-5, are back-to-back winners of the MASL Supporters Shield, awarded to the club with the league's best regular season record. In 2022-23 the Sockers went 22-2, finishing with five more wins than the next-best team. San Diego is 49-2-1 over the last two+ regular seasons. The club carries a fifteen-match regular season winning streak and a 25-match regular season home winning streak into Sunday. Both streaks date back to the 2022-23 season.
This is the first of three meetings between the Sockers and Texas Outlaws, who played their first two seasons as the Mesquite Outlaws. Last season, San Diego managed a 2-1 record against the Outlaws, with the home team winning in all three matches. In the regular season, the Sockers are 3-2 all-time against Texas, 3-0 in San Diego and 0-2 in Texas. The two clubs met in the playoffs last season for the first time, with the Sockers sweeping the Western Division semi-finals by scores of 7-1 and 8-0. The Sockers and Outlaws will meet in Texas on February 1, and again in San Diego on February 15.
In their last action, the Sockers put together their most complete effort of the season to date, taking care of the Tacoma Stars by a 9-3 final score on Saturday, December 30, 2023. San Di-ego put multiple goals in the back of the Stars net in each quarter, while blocking a season-high 19 shots on defense. Boris Pardo stopped 17-of-20 shots in net for his fifth win of the season, while Leonardo de Oliveira powered the offense with a goal and three assists. Tavoy Morgan added a hat trick and now has eight goals in five matches.
While the Sockers enjoy a single-match week, they will begin on Sunday one of their most difficult and challenging stretches of the season. On Thursday, January 11, San Diego will add an exhibition futsal match against the Empire Strykers to their schedule. The following day, the club flies to Tacoma for a January 13 meeting with the Stars. The next day is an interstate flight back to San Diego, where the Chihuahua Savage will be waiting for a January 14 meeting. Just three days later, the Sockers and Strykers lock boots again for real at Toyota Arena in Ontario. The net result is four MASL matches in eleven days, with a fifth futsal exhibition thrown in.
Texas (4-2-1, 13 points) begins a West Coast swing which will see the Outlaws travel to the Empire Strykers on Tuesday night. Led by indoor legend Tatu, Texas sports a trio of top MASL scorers, led by Luiz Morales, who paces the MASL with 16 goals and 21 points. The Outlaws have played two more matches than the Sockers. Midfielder Sebastian Mendez is a dangerous creator with (9-8=17) points), while midfielder David Ortiz adds (5-4=9) points. Former Socker Andy Reyes is off to the best start of his career with (5-3=8) points. The Outlaws defense has allowed 6+ goals in five of their seven matches. Goalkeeper Eduardo "Pollo" Cortes has a 2-0 record, 5.11 GAA and .667 SV% in two starts.
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Major Arena Soccer League Stories from January 5, 2024
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