MASL Game Day 17 – San Diego Sockers Game Notes
Baltimore Blast (13-1) at San Diego Sockers (13-3)
DATE: Saturday, February 7th, 2015
PLACE: Valley View Casino Center
TIME: 7:05pm PST
BROADCAST: ESPN Radio 1700-AM (radio), GoLiveSportsCast (video)
TWO INDOOR POWERS RE-UNITE: SOCKERS/BLAST
The San Diego Sockers (13-3) welcome the Baltimore Blast (13-1) into the Valley View Casino Center to resume one of the greatest rivalries in the sport of indoor soccer. The Sockers and Blast have combined for 21 championships in their history. The two sides have met in four different championship finals during the ‘80s and ‘90s, with the Sockers prevailing all four times but always in highly competitive battles. This is the first meeting between the two franchises since October 16th, 2004, a 5-3 Baltimore victory in the MISL. The Sockers and Blast met ten times since 1992, with the Blast leading the series 6-4. San Diego won three of five home games in the ten-game slate.
LAST GAME: SOCKERS 13, STARS 4
The Sockers scored nine times in the second half to blow open a close game and race past the Tacoma Stars, 13-4. A PASL/MASL team record crowd of 7,311 was in attendance to see Evan Mundine score the game’s first goal just eight seconds into the action. Kraig Chiles and Ney each recorded hat tricks in the victory, with Anthony Medina adding two goals and two assists.
CHILES POINTS STREAK REACHES 61
The goals and points keep on coming for the Sockers captain, forward Kraig Chiles. According to MASL/PASL Stats, Sockers captain Kraig Chiles has recorded at least one point in 61 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. Kraig needed just 94 seconds to extend the streak against Tacoma, picking up an assist early in the first quarter. Chiles has also managed a sixteen-game goals streak, having scored at least one goal in every Sockers game this season. In his past ten games Chiles has 30 goals, pushing his season total to 39, second-most in the MASL (Gordy Gurson (STL)-40, Freddy Moojen (DAL)-35).
MUNDINE INSPIRES AND SCORES IN DEBUT
Evan Mundine, a 17-year-old who the Sockers signed to a one-game MASL contract last week, brought down the house when he opened last Saturday’s game with a goal. Born with Crohn’s disease and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and afflicted with ulcerative colitis, Mundine has been held off the playing field due to medical issues lately, forestalling a top-flight youth soccer career. On Saturday night his dream of playing professional soccer came true when he handled the opening kickoff against Tacoma, passing to Brian Farber and then streaking down the wing before finishing Farber’s return pass for the fastest goal to start a career (eight seconds) in Sockers history. Now retired from his pro career, Mundine joins the Sockers alumni tonight.
RED CARD SHELVES PERERA FOR TONIGHT
Sockers forward Nick Perera was served a red card during the 13-4 win over Tacoma last Saturday for an intentional head-butt during the first quarter, and will have to sit out the Blast game as a result. 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. The mandatory missed game is a crippling blow to the San Diego attack, as Perera is second on the team and seventh in the MASL with 45 points (23 goals, 22 assists).
NEY NETS SECOND HAT TRICK
Brazilian rookie midfielder Ney continues to ignite the Sockers attack with his creativity and ability to finish. In just eight games of professional indoor soccer, Ney has a pair of hat tricks and 13 goals overall as well as four assists. Against Tacoma, Ney paced San Diego’s second half outburst, scoring all of three of his goals after intermission. Ney has converted 13 of his 21 shots on goal this season. He came to the Sockers from Brazilian first-division professional futsal.
MEETING UP WITH THE MISL
Indoor soccer was united under one banner during the summer of 2014 when the Major Arena Soccer League was created, combining the teams from the Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL) and the Major Indoor Soccer League into one unit. This is the third meeting of the season between the Sockers and a former MISL team, and San Diego carries a 0-2 mark into action against the Blast. The Sockers gave the undefeated Missouri Comets (16-0), last year’s MISL champions, a tough game on the road, leading 6-5 in the third quarter before falling 10-7. They faced the St. Louis Ambush the following evening and dropped an 8-3 decision, the most decisive loss in Sockers-3 history.
EDDIE’S RACKING UP THE STATS
Eddie Velez fills up the box score with production, most of it positive. Velez’s 22 penalty minutes leads the Sockers and is the fourth-most accrued in the MASL. Velez also has 28 points on the season (13 goals, 15 assists), which ranks tied for third on the team. Velez leads the Sockers in blocked shots with 17, a new career high. “El Vaquero” also leads his team in fouls (21) and is tied for the lead in restart goals (3).
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 ten of their past thirteen man advantage situations, moving up to third in the league overall in efficiency (54.3%), trailing only Missouri (61.1%) and Detroit (61.1%). The Sockers’ 19 power play goals rank fifth in the league while their 32 opportunities are ninth.
BOWERS JOINS SOCKERS RADIO FOR HOME GAMES
Saturday’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.
PIFFER POPS AS DEFENSIVE ADDITION
A trade acquisition from Ontario, Luis Piffer is a major addition to the Sockers’ defensive corps. In three games since joining San Diego, Piffer has three goals and two assists (five points). A two-way defender with a big left shot, Piffer is in his second season of PASL/MASL action and was second on the Fury this year with nine goals and fourteen assists (23 points) in fourteen games. In his career Piffer has 24 goals and 21 assists (45 points) in 29 games with Ontario, Las Vegas and San Diego.
INJURY UPDATE
Defender Evan McNeley (foot) is expected to make his return to the starting lineup after missing the past three games for San Diego. Defender Dan Antoniuk (lower body) is questionable for the game on Saturday night and will be a game-time decision.
MASL NOTES
- A flurry of trade deadline deals in the Pacific Division: the Las Vegas Legends signed former team captain Enrique Tovar, who had been released by the Turlock Express, and acquired defender/coach Dominic Scicluna from the Detroit Waza Flo. The Express also sent attacker Arturo Pulido Jr. and midfielder Juan Gonzalez to the Ontario Fury.
- Evan Mundine was named to the all-MASL team for Week 17.
- The St. Louis Ambush sent defender Corey Adamson to the Milwaukee Wave, while the Harrisburg Heat sent Jade Mesias to the Syracuse Silver Knights.
- With 237 goals in his Sockers PASL/MASL career, Kraig Chiles is now seventeen goals away from Juli Veee’s record for goals in a Sockers career (254).
OPPONENT PROFILE: BALTIMORE BLAST (13-1)
The Baltimore Blast (13-1) saw their undefeated run through the MASL come to an end on Friday night, dropping a 5-4 overtime decision to the Las Vegas Legends at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. By far the best defensive team in the league, Baltimore has allowed only 43 goals on the season, 17 fewer than the second-fewest allowed (Monterrey-60). A balanced attack for Baltimore sees no one star, but twelve different players averaging over one point per game. Tony Donatelli (10-11-21) leads the Blast in points. Goalkeeper William Vanzela is an MVP candidate, bringing a 12-1 record and 3.00 goals against average into the game. Co-leading scorer Lucas Roque is out with an ankle injury for the Blast, replaced by Drew Ruggles.
