There’s no question that fans of the San Diego Sockers are passionate about their team.
The good news for the Major Arena Soccer League franchise is that the team’s fan base appears to be growing. The Sockers attracted a season high crowd of 5,943 to its regular season home finale against Tijuana’s Athletico Baja on Feb. 26 at the Valley View Casino Center.
Sockers director of marketing and public relations Ian Cook said attendance is up 25 percent overall from last season. It is a sign of positive growth for this newest version of the Sockers – and also the league – as both continue to improve in terms of professional presentation.
More than ever, fans can feel a connection between the current edition of the Sockers (the second revival team) and the original, beloved indoor franchise of the 1980s.
The Sockers offer good entertainment value, especially for families, which seems to be the team’s focus.
Each Sockers goal sends kids jumping and dancing in the stands. Noisemakers and drumbeats add to the festive atmosphere.
The wave made its way around the packed lower bowl during the third quarter of the Sockers’ 11-1 victory over cross-border rival Athletico Baja.
Athletico Baja is coached by South Bay soccer icon Rene Ortiz, a Southwest High School alumnus, who won three league championships during a six-year stint with the original Sockers.
Ortiz remains in reverence of indoor soccer games played at the Valley View Casino Center.
“I call it a cathedral for indoor soccer in America,” explained Ortiz, whose team qualified for this year’s MASL Southwest Division playoffs. “There are a lot of good memories; all the best teams played here. I can feel it every time I step onto this playing surface.”
The Pacific Division champion Sockers (14-6) will host the Pacific Division runner-up Ontario Fury (12-8) in the first leg of their best-of-three divisional playoff series on Sunday, March 12. Kick-off is 5:05 p.m.
The teams rematch Tuesday, March 14, at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario. If the series is tied 1-1, a mini-game will follow the regulation match to determine the series winner.
The top two teams in each of the MASL’s four geographic-based divisions qualified for post-season play. Each playoff series (divisional, conference and finals) will feature a best-of-three format.
The Sockers-Fury winner will meet Southwest Division playoff champion Soles de Sonora in the Western Conference finals after Sonora eliminated Athletico Baja two games to none following Saturday’s 17-3 second-leg victory. The Suns previously defeated the Baja team, 10-7, Wednesday in Tijuana.
The Baltimore Blast and Harrisburg Heat qualified for the playoffs in the Eastern Division while Kansas City and Milwaukee qualified for the playoffs in the Central Division. The winners of each of those divisional series will meet in the Eastern Conference finals.
The Western Conference champion will meet the Eastern Conference champion in the Ron Newman Cup championship series.
The Blast defeated Sonora in last year’s Ron Newman Cup Finals. Sonora posted the top regular season record (17-3) in the 17-team league this season.
The Sockers defeated the Fury by scores of 10-6 and 7-3 in divisional play this season. The teams have not met since Jan. 8.
Stretch socks
The Sockers closed out regular season play March 4 in Tacoma with a gritty 4-3 against the Stars. The win by the Sockers eliminated Tacoma from the playoffs. The Stars finished in third place in the Pacific Division regular season standings with a 10-10 record.
The Sockers enter the playoffs having won their last two games, four of their last five games and six of their last eight games.
SDSU (and Poway High School) alumnus Kraig Chiles leads the Sockers in scoring with 39 goals and 12 assists for 51 points. He is followed on the scoresheet by Matt Clare (19 goals, 37 points), Max Touloute (16 goals, 25 points), Luan Oliveira (13 goals, 22 points), Brandon Escoto (12 goals, 20 points) and Erick Tovar (13 goals, 19 points).
Veteran midfielder Anthony Medina has collected seven goals and eight points in 19 games this season. The Valhalla High School alum is one of the original members of the current re-booted franchise that began play in 2009.
“I think we’re starting to gel,” said Medina, who was part of the Sockers’ U.S. professional team sports record of 48 consecutive wins from 2010-2013. “We have a good mix of young talent and veterans and have worked together to be on the same page. We have good chemistry. We’re ready for the playoffs.”
Medina has won four championships with the team; he said the team’s upcoming playoff run will be particularly special to him for personal reasons. He said he hasn’t made a decision yet, though he admitted this could be his final season with the team.
“When you think your playing career might be coming to a close, you want to make the most of it,” Medina explained.
Chiles and Medina are among the current Sockers’ most recognizable names. Chiles passed Sockers legend Branko Segota for most career goals in Sockers history in the 10-6 win over Ontario in late December. Chiles notched two goals in the victory to increase his career total to 300 goals – two more than Segota’s 298 with the original Sockers.
“It’s nice to be mentioned alongside such a great player as Branko Segota,” said Chiles, who recorded four goals and three assists in the Feb. 26 win over Athletico Baja. “It’s something I don’t take lightly.”
Meanwhile, goalkeeper Chris Toth, son of Sockers legend Zoltan Toth, cements the old and new Sockers teams together.
The younger Toth, who possesses his father’s catlike reflexes, ranked second in the league during the regular season with a 3.66 GAA and first in the league with a .815 save percentage.
A lot of credit for the new energy behind the team goes to new Sockers general manager Sean Bowers, who played for the original Sockers in the Major Indoor Soccer League before spending four seasons with the Kansas City Wiz in Major League Soccer.
Bowers was an all-star selection in four different indoor soccer leagues. He was a member of three incarnations of the Sockers, including the current revival team.
Bowers, who prepped at Mira Mesa High School and competed at Miramar College before transferring to Quincy University in Illinois, played for the MISL Sockers in 1991. His knowledge gained while playing for eight teams in both indoor and outdoor soccer leagues, as well as coaching seven teams (both indoor and outdoor, as well as men’s and women’s), has given him tremendous insight.
He made his mark as a defender in earning rookie of the year and defender of the year honors in two leagues. It’s not surprising that the Sockers ranked second in the MASL in fewest goals allowed during the regular season.
“Defense has been a big thing for us,” Bowers said.
World at his feet
Ortiz, the girls soccer head coach at Hilltop High School and a youth director of the Xolos Academy FC that trains at San Ysidro High School, serves as technical director of Athletico Baja. He said the team is comprised of young players competing in local amateur leagues in the Tijuana area (with a sprinkling of players from the cross-border region in the United States).
This is the second year for the team.
“I like it that we’ve made the playoffs in each of our two years while playing against some of the top teams in the league,” Ortiz explained. “This is encouraging for a young team like ours.”
Ortiz, whose playing career included stints in the original MISL, Continental Indoor Soccer League, National Professional Soccer League, World Indoor Soccer League, Western Soccer Alliance and MLS, also serves as the head coach of the Mexican futsal organization.
He led the Mexican national team to a runner-up finish (to the United States by a score of 5-3) in the inaugural 2015 World Mini-Football Federation Arena World Cup.
Ortiz was paired against Sockers head coach Phil Salvagio as opposing head coaches of the two teams in the championship game in Chicago.
The Sockers had four players selected to the U.S. team: Chinky Luna, Evan McNeley, Jeff Hughes and Chiles.
The 2017 WMF World Cup will be staged in October in Tunisia.
Teams from 12 nations competed in the inaugural WMF World Cup; 18 are slated to compete in the 2017 tournament, including seven teams from Europe, four teams from the Americas, three teams from Africa and two teams each from Asia and Oceania.
“There will be a lot of teams from Europe there,” explained Ortiz, who earned five caps with the U.S. national futsal team in 1995. “It will be five-a-side, plus one goalkeeper, and no side boards.”
Ortiz, who coached Marian Catholic to the 2002 San Diego Section boys soccer championship, said the prospects for Team Mexico are good heading into the second WMF World Cup.
“There is more interest in Mexico,” he said. “We will have more players (a larger player pool) to select from; hopefully that will make for a stronger team.”
Cornerkicks
The Sockers’ March 12 playoff game against Ontario will feature a celebrity halftime match spotlighting U.S. men’s national team legend Landon Donovan.
Among others confirmed to play in the celebrity halftime match are former Sockers captain Aaron Susi, pro surfer Rob Machado, Sockers legend Juli Veee, X Games medalist Mitchie Brusco, U.S. Women’s World Cup star Shannon MacMillan and San Diego Gulls radio color commentator B.J. MacPherson.
The Sockers duo of Oliveira and Toth earned selection to the MASL’s final regular season Team of the Week.
Oliveira scored two goals on three shots to help the Sockers top the host Stars in the regular season finale while Toth, back from a recent appearance with the U.S. beach national team, posted an .800 save percentage and allowed just three goals in the win.
Ontario forward Leonardo De Oliveria earned honors as the MASL Player of the Month for February/March after tallying 27 points in seven games, including 15 goals and seven assists in the team’s last five games, to seal the Fury’s place in the playoffs.
Ontario coach Bernie Lilavois received honors as MASL Coach of the Month as directing his team to six wins in seven games, including three in a row on a three-game road trip (Feb. 24-26) and a season-ending win over Turlock.
Chiles earned a berth on the MASL Team of the Week for the fifth time this season after recording hat tricks in games against Sonora (Feb. 25) and Athletico Baja (Feb. 26). He collected seven goals and three assists in the two games.
Girl power
This year’s Metro All-Star Game, pitting seniors from the Metro Conference’s Mesa League and South Bay League teams, is scheduled to take place Thursday, March 16, at 5:15 p.m. at Montgomery High School.
Admission is free.
Eastlake and Hilltop high schools lead the conference with nine seniors each while Southwest has eight seniors and Olympian has seven seniors. Eastlake is the defending San Diego Section Division I champion.
