Strykers Open Season with 5-4 Overtime Win at San Diego
MASL Empire Strykers

Strykers Open Season with 5-4 Overtime Win at San Diego

Published on November 29, 2025 under Major Arena Soccer League (MASL)
Empire Strykers News Release


Oceanside, Calif. - The Empire Strykers opened their 2025-26 Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) season with a bang on Friday evening, traveling down to Oceanside and downing mighty rivals San Diego Sockers 5-4 in overtime. After coming close to beating the Sockers on several occasions last season, Empire finally managed to snap a 14-game losing streak against the two-time league champions.

While Strykers forward Mounir Alami bagged a brace in the dramatic victory at Frontwave Arena - including the winner - a pair of defensive players also had standout performances for Head Coach Onua Obasi's side, with backline anchor Robert Palmer making four blocks and goalkeeper Brian Orozco not only recording an impressive .769 save percentage but contributing a spectacular assist on the game's golden goal.

While San Diego defender Cesar Cerda put up three blocks, his teammate Boris Pardo registered a .750 save percentage in net.

The Sockers opened the scoring early in match, Keko Gontán's through ball finding Gabriel Costa, who finished confidently from close range. After Empire's Isaak Somow sent a hard long-range drive off the crossbar, the visitors did level the match about halfway through the opening period, as Alami's aggressive press yielded a Mitchell Cardenas turnover in the right corner. With all the hard work done, former Morocco youth international Alami enjoyed a simple finish past netminder Pardo for 1-1.

The Strykers controlled most of the play during the remainder of the quarter, and they were rewarded with the go-ahead tally when Mexican star Marco Fabián blasted a direct restart from the top of the arc through the wall and off the hands of Pardo, who couldn't manage to keep it out. Despite heavily outshooting San Diego in the opening period, Empire ultimately found itself lucky to hold on to its advantage, as Costa smashed a rocket off the underside of the bar and saw the ball fall down inches outside the goal.

In the second period, the Sockers again found the net early, making it 2-2. Coming off a stint with the Strykers last season, recent San Diego addition Jose Gonzalez sent a shot off the boards, allowing Walter Taylor Bond to bury the rebound. However, the away team subsequently reclaimed its lead on a gorgeous netter by Abdul Mansaray, who got open at the far post and backheeled home a low, driven helper by Steven Chávez from the right. Fabián could have doubled Empire's lead, but his short-range blast was brilliantly parried by Pardo.

In the fiercely contested third quarter, the hosts went close on three occasions before finally leveling the score at 3-3. Halfway through the period, Cardenas rattled the right post, followed by a last-ditch Isaak Somow header to deny an open-net tally with goalkeeper Orozco off his line as a quasi sixth attacker. After veteran Kraig Chiles' blast then forced Orozco to leave his feet and tip over in spectacular fashion, Bond finally found the net on an excellent individual effort, having received the ball from Charlie Gonzalez.

The physical final period of regulation time saw the Strykers' Somow ejected from the match for six fouls. San Diego subsequently made it 4-3 when Charlie Gonzalez rifled a left-footed shot inside the right post, but Jorge DeLeon sent the game to overtime by finding the dramatic equalizer with less than three minutes left on the clock.

The additional period ended in jubilation for the Strykers, who bagged a rare victory over their rivals when netminder Orozco drove across the midfield stripe on the right and defied the opposition pressure by releasing a blast from near the boards that whistled toward the far post and was nodded home at the doorstep by Alami.

by Gunnar Berndt

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Major Arena Soccer League Stories from November 29, 2025


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