March 18, 2024 – Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) – San Diego Sockers News Release
Charlie Gonzalez tortured his former team with two goals and two assists, while Tavoy Morgan netted a hat trick as the San Diego Sockers raced past the Empire Strykers 11-5 Sunday night at Toyota Arena in Ontario. With the win, the Sockers (17-4, 49 points) clinched the Western Division and home-field advantage in the first two rounds of the Ron Newman Cup playoffs.
Gabriel Costa added two goals and two assists in his return to the lineup, as San Diego polished off a six-match sweep of Empire (3-17-1, 9 points) for the season. Former Liga MX star Marco Fabián scored a hat trick for the Strykers, who lost their ninth match in a row.
The Sockers welcomed back Costa to the lineup after the MASL Newcomer of the Year had missed the last nine matches with a broken wrist. The Brazilian made an immediate impact on the scoreboard, slotting home Brandon Escoto’s wall pass from straightaway for a 1-0 lead at 6:00 of the first quarter.
Fabián’s big night got started with a gift, as his attempted centering pass was shoveled by a sliding Felipe Gonzalez into his own net for an own goal at 7:43. After shutting the Mexican star out a week ago, San Diego had allowed his scoring boot to get started with un regalito, a mistake the club would soon regret.
However, it was San Diego taking control of the remainder of the first quarter. Empire keeper Brian Orozco was shown a blue card for a two-footed tackle of Escoto, giving the Sockers a power play with 3:56 left in the frame. Making quick work of it, San Diego earned a free kick from the top of the arc, which Kraig Chiles backheeled to Charlie Gonzalez on the left wing. His shot-pass to the back post snuck inside the post and into the corner of the goal for a 2-1 lead at 11:10.
The goal was the first of three in 1:25 for the Sockers. Flavio Guzman’s pass from the wall picked out Cesar Cerda on a horizontal run to the middle of the field, and Cerda tucked the ball inside the left post for his twelfth goal of the season and a 3-1 lead. Just twenty-three seconds later, Tavoy Morgan dug a pass out of a scrum to Charlie Gonzalez, who stepped on the ball, spun away to his left to free space, and slotted his seventeenth goal of the season into the upper-right corner at 12:35 for a 4-1 lead.
Similar to their last trip up I-15, the Sockers nearly squandered a big lead with a sluggish second quarter. Feeling the heat of his early goal, Fabián netted…