Sockers Defense Stymies Comets 7-3

San Diego controlled the early portion of the first period, peppering the Comets’ goal with five shots and finally finding the back of the net as Kraig Chiles tapped in a Leonardo De Oliveira short pass for a 1-0 lead at 4:41. Chiles has a goal and points in 10 of his last 11 games, while De Oliveira has points in six of eight matches. Tavoy Morgan’s torrid scoring season continued with his marker at 10:48 off a helper from Charlie Gonzalez on the counterattack. Gabriel Costa started the play from midfield with a pass to Gonzalez, who placed a pass high off the glass to the foot of Morgan inside the box, who played the ball to himself around the defender for the shot and score. Morgan leads the team in scoring with 25 goals and is on an eight-game goal streak and a 17-game point streak. The Sockers led 2-0 at the end of the first. 

Boris Pardo exited the game at 4:06 of the second after sustaining a lower-body injury. Xavier Snaer-Williams would replace Pardo in goal for the remainder of the contest. He earned his sixth win of the season by making 13 saves in relief.

It didn’t take long for Snaer-Williams to make his mark on the game, as he was called for holding Rian Marques and providing the Comets with a shootout opportunity. Drew Ruggles donned the goalie jersey replacing the penalized Snaer-Williams, but had no chance to save the Marques’ blast straight down the center of the goal at 6:43. San Diego countered quickly on the restart, when Mitchell Cardenas’ outlet pass into the box was misplayed by Kansas City goalkeeper Phillip Ejimadu allowing Morgan to easily score for his brace from just outside the goal line. He now has two straight multi-goal games. Kansas City failed to take advantage of another Sockers’ penalty on Ruggles for a handball at 10:29. Snaer-Williams denied the Marques’ penalty kick attempt with a fingertip save that rebounded off the crossbar, and the follow-up shot was also blocked by the X-Man. San Diego’s defense would kill off the penalty to maintain a 3-1 lead.

The teams combined for 10 shots (SD 6/KC 4) in the third, but both defenses held tight to keep the score 3-1 heading into the final period. 

Gonzalez added a goal to his assist at 4:01 to put San Diego up 4-1, with Ruggles providing the helper. Ruggles, who left a perfect ball inside the box for Ruggles to finish. The defender now has goals in three consecutive games and points in eight of 11 games. Kansas City went to the sixth attacker Lucas Sousa tallied on a quick restart set-piece goal assisted by Zach Reget only 12 seconds later. Kristian Quintana notched his first goal as a Socker on a long shot beyond the midfield line into the empty net at 9:21. The Captain scored his second of the afternoon to give him multi-goal games in two straight off an assist from De Oliveira at 12:11. Reget finished the scoring with a cosmetic goal at 13:39 to make it 7-3.  

The Sockers venture to Mexico to challenge the Chihuahua Savage in a battle for first place on Friday, March 14, 7:00pm at Corner Sport Arena. The game will be streamed on MASLTV on YouTube. San Diego returns to Frontwave Arena on Saturday, March 22, 7:05pm against the Empire Strykers. Individual, group, mini-plan, and $75 Family Four-Pack tickets are available at AXS.com, SDSockers.com, or FrontwaveArena.com.