San Diego Sockers Cruise to Win at Home
In front of the biggest crowd yet — nearly 6,000 soccer fans came out to cheer for the San Diego Sockers and watch America’s Finest City’s Champions win last night!
With the 2017 MASL regular season coming to a close, the San Diego Sockers continued their #Questfor15 with a strong win over Atletico Baja on Sunday. The Sockers have one final regular season match before the club hosts their opening round of the playoffs on March 12th.
Related Article: U.S. Soccer Legend Landon Donovan on #MLStoSD
MASL Soccer News: The San Diego Sockers closed out its final home game of the regular season with an 11-1 victory over Atletico Baja in front of the biggest crowd of the season of 5,943 at the Valley View Casino Center.
The arena was filled with sports fans last night cheering for their home team and were rewarded with a glorious win and great soccer action.
Usually a hat trick is an amazing feat in the world of soccer but last night Captain Kraig Chiles recorded another noteworthy night with four goals and three assists.
Chiles was unstoppable in the arena and commanded the ball expertly. Two of Chiles’ assists were fed to Luan Olivera who recorded his first hat-trick of the season. It was the perfect present for the Brazilian, just one day shy of his 29th birthday.
Sockers’ regular goalkeeper Chris Toth was playing beach soccer for the USA and Boris Pardo stepped in front of the goal and proved himself. Pardo saved 11 shots as Atletico Baja had to wait over 30 minutes before scoring its first and only goal of the match through Roman Ramirez.
Led by Eduardo Velez, the Sockers allowed just 12 shots on goal.
Sockers midfielder Velez scores a lot of goals to help his team to victory but last night he had wings and rose to find the ball with both speed and accuracy. Veteran player Velez joined the Sockers’ team in 2011 — and had played for the team years before in the 2004-2005 MISL season too.
A former player on the Mexican National Indoor Soccer Team, Velez helped the Sockers set a U.S. professional team sports record with 48 consecutive victories in 2012 — the longest winning streak of any professional US sports team.
With a strong streak going now, the Sockers final home game ended with a resounding win.
Atletico finishes the regular season with a 10-10 record and will now focus on its Southwest Division Playoff series with Soles de Sonora in early March.
San Diego has one more regular season match on the road versus the Tacoma Stars on March 4th.
Going to the San Diego Sockers is a family affair as well as a great sports’ night out with buddies or a hot date.
The Sockers have already clinched the Pacific Division regular season title and will host its home leg of the Pacific Division series on March 12th at the Valley View Casino Center. The night will feature a celebrity match at half-time highlighted by former U.S. Men’s National Team and Major League Soccer’s all-time leading soccer, Landon Donovan.
All these great images — Photo Credit: Richard Pecjak, Jr.
