The San Diego Sockers win a mini-game decider 2-1 over the Ontario Fury to capture the MASL title.
The San Diego Sockers waited eight years to have a chance at another indoor soccer title.
They played 16 straight games on the road during an abbreviated Major Arena Soccer League season due to COVID-19.
They played seven playoff games against three teams — five of those matches going to overtime.
And then they battled the Ontario Fury for 75 minutes on Sunday, and it looked more likely than not that they would make their way back down Interstate 15 still searching for the glories of their past.
But in a season when the Sockers rallied against all adversity, they prevailed in dramatic fashion in Ontario’s Toyota Arena. Forced to a 15-minute mini game after Ontario won Game 2 6-5 in overtime earlier in the afternoon, San Diego’s Cesar Cerda scored with 56 seconds remaining in Game 3 to lift the Sockers to a 2-1 win and the
Ron Newman Cup championship.
The title is the 15th earned by several incarnations of the Sockers over a period that spans from the early 1980s to 2021.
The Sockers didn’t decide until near the league’s deadline over the winter if they would participate in this season, given that local COVID-19 restrictions wouldn’t allow them to play at home in the 10-game regular season. San Diego decided to play against six other teams in the league, with talent from the dormant clubs creating something of a small super league.
The Sockers ended up getting on a plane six times to compete in Kansas City, Dallas, St. Louis and Florida, and after starting 3-6, they swept two playoff series and won Game 1 of the Finals amid a six-game winning streak.
“I am super excited,” Sockers
head coach and co-owner Phil Salvagio said as the team celebrated. “I can’t wait to play at home again, but we’re going to enjoy this moment right now for a long time.”
Sunday’s mini game could not have been more entertaining. The Fury took a 1-0 lead when English rookie Abdul Mansaray scored his first-ever postseason goal. But the Sockers answered back immediately with a goal by Marcio Leite, a veteran who was acquired in the offseason to stiffen San Diego’s defense.
Then the game took a scary turn when Ontario goalie Claysson De Lima, the league’s regular-season Goalkeeper of the Year, collided horrifically in midair with his own player and landed face first on the turf. After being tended to by medics, De Lima walked off, but was taken by ambulance to a hospital to be examined for a possible concussion.
De Lima’s replacement was 45-year-old Jesus Molina, who had not seen any action during the entire season. And it was
Molina who gave up the winning goal, though it was brilliantly orchestrated by the Sockers. San Diego goalie William Vanzela threw a pass downfield to Kraig Chiles, and the Sockers all-time leading scorer chested the ball down and flicked a pass off the side of his foot to Cerda, who hit a low running shot inside the left post. Cerda was in the lineup after sitting out Game 1 of the finals with an injury.
In Game 2, the Sockers scored two early goals and then were dominated, with Ontario notching five straight talles to lead 5-2 early in the fourth quarter. But the Sockers rallied to force overtime with three goals, including one in which Ontario’s De Lima let a soft back pass slip though his arms and into the goal.
Ontario made up for that inside the first minute of overtime when MASL Defender of the Year Robert Palmer charged through the middle after a free kick and fired a loose ball past Vanzela.