San Diego Sockers Hand Turlock Express A Big Loss
Sockers Rout Turlock 10-3 Behind Perera Hat Trick
Nick Perera scored his second hat trick of the season and the San Diego Sockers defended over a half of empty-net offense in a 10-3 victory over the Turlock Express at Turlock Indoor in the Central Valley. Brazilian rookie Ney added a pair of goals and Brian Farber scored a goal and assist in his return from injury to the starting lineup. Welcome back Farber.
Returning from a missed game due to a commitment as captain of the U.S. National Beach Soccer Team, fan-favorite Perera scored his 17th-19th goals of the season and added his 20th assist of the MASL campaign.”It was fun to get back out there with the boys and get back down to business,” said Perera, who has already set career highs for goals and assists, “Our defense played amazing tonight, goalkeeper Chris Toth was great and we got a lot of effort out there.”
The Sockers (10-3) handed the Express their first home loss of the season while winning their fourth in a row overall. Raymundo Reza (SDSU) scored to open the action for San Diego, while recent trade acquisition Luis Piffer added a goal in his Sockers debut. Turlock (8-8) pulled their goalkeeper midway through the second quarter for six attackers but needed until the fourth quarter for the strategy to net a goal.
Sockers captain Kraig Chiles got a late flick on Reza’s midfield chip with less than three seconds in the second quarter to make the halftime line 5-0 San Diego. The goal extended two streaks for Chiles, a PASL/MASL record 58-game point scoring streak as well as a goal in all thirteen games this season.
San Diego advances to Sacramento to play back-to-back games this weekend against the Sacramento Surge. Kickoff from McLellan Park in the state capitol is set for 7pm on Saturday night, followed by a Sunday 3pm affair.
Photo Credit: Aaron Jaffe
