February 14, 2023 – Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) – San Diego Sockers News Release
The San Diego Sockers–presented by Kaiser Permanente San Diego–head to the Lone Star State for a two-match weekend, beginning with a Thursday night match against the Dallas Sidekicks at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas. The match is scheduled for a 5:05pm PST kickoff and will be streamed live on Twitch on channel @masl_soccer. The Sockers will face the Mesquite Outlaws on Saturday to wrap up the weekend trip.
The Sockers (11-1, 32 points) and Sidekicks (0-11-2, 2 points) are meeting one another for the third of four times this season. Dallas will wrap up the season series with a trip to San Diego for the Sockers’ next home match on March 4. In the modern PASL/MASL era, the Sockers are 11-3 against Dallas. In the MASL, San Diego has a 10-1 record against the Sidekicks, including ten straight wins. The last time Dallas beat San Diego was on December 12, 2015, a 9-7 win in Texas. Since then, the Sockers have won six straight at the Sidekicks’ home, as well as four in a row at Pechanga Arena.
In their two meetings earlier in the season, the Sockers and Sidekicks played an interstate back-to-back series on January 7 and 8. San Diego prevailed in Texas by a 9-4 score, led by Tavoy Morgan’s hat trick and assist. At home the next night, the Sockers scored six unanswered goals for an 8-2 victory. Christian Gutierrez paced the attack with two goals and an assist.
San Diego was rolling into their six-match road trip with a series of winning streaks, all of which were rubbed out by Empire’s 10-4 win over the Sockers to begin the trip last week. The club had won a MASL-record 30 straight regular season matches, 17 in a row on the road and 14 in a row overall (dating back to the playoffs). In addition, the club’s all-time point streak was set at 51, with the Sockers losing in regulation for the first time in 52 matches (47-1-4).
San Diego rebounded last Saturday to post a workmanlike 6-3 win in Tacoma. Boris Pardo was stellar once again in net, earning his 11th win with 13/16 saves, while contributing an assist to the offensive cause. The Sockers scored twice on the power play while building a 4-1 halftime lead. The Stars narrowed the advantage to 4-3 and pressed for a tie in the closing minutes, before Christian Gutierrez netted back-to-back empty net goals to seal the result. The win restored the Sockers to first place in a massively competitive MASL…