March 26, 2023 – Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) News Release
MONTERREY, NUEVO LEON, MX – Goalkeeper Boris Pardo stopped 14-of-16 shots, including a potential game-tying header with 24 seconds remaining, as the San Diego Sockers ran their winning streak to eight with a 3-2 victory over the Monterrey Flash on Sunday afternoon at Arena Monterrey. The Sockers (20-2, 57 points) are the only team in the MASL to go 3-0 in Mexico this season, wrapping up a 10-2 road record.
Playing with a partially rotated lineup that was missing four regulars, the Sockers leaned on their league-leading defense to pull three points away from a Flash team hungry to qualify for the upcoming Ron Newman Cup playoffs. Defenders Mitchell Cardenas and Ismael Rojo netted goals along with midfielder Hiram “Pollo” Ruiz for San Diego. Rojo’s score, his sixth of the season and fourth in Monterrey, proved to be the match winner at 6:37 of the third quarter.
Pardo made sure those points would come home to San Diego by stopping literally everything he could. The two Monterrey goals, scored by Walter Ayoví and Erick Tovar, were each inch-perfect rockets into the upper frame worthy of goal-of-the-week consideration. With thirty striker Luis Genaro Castillo in the middle of the crease, looking for a header. Castillo snapped the ball on frame only to be parried away by Pardo, who went post-to-post on a diving save to cement the win.
In doing so, Pardo became the league’s only 20-match winner (20-2) this season in net, while maintaining his position as one of only four keepers to start every match this regular season. He leads the league in wins (20) and goals-against average (3.84) while ranking fifth in save percentage (.723). The defending Goalkeeper of the Year, Pardo at age 39 is one of only four keepers in the league with over 1,200 minutes played in net.
With both clubs playing their second match of the weekend, the first quarter was a scoreless affair dotted with a couple missed opportunities down low for San Diego. The Sockers’ first goal came from well outside, when Tavoy Morgan (two assists) raked a reverse pass across the side-wall glass to Mitchell Cardenas, who first reached around the attempted capture of Monterrey’s Carlos Bocanegra with his right leg, then settled the ball and launched a twisting shot from outside that found the net at 2:08 of the second quarter for a 1-0 lead.
The shutout held until 11:29 of the quarter, when Monterrey’s Walter Ayoví displayed that talent…