Sockers Lock Down Empire 4-2 To Advance

OCEANSIDE, CA (Friday, April 4, 2025) - The San Diego Sockers - presented by Kaiser Permanente - used tight defense and balanced scoring to eliminate the Empire Strykers 4-2 in the MASL Ron Newman Cup Playoffs quarterfinals presented by Verizon. San Diego improved to 13-0 at Frontwave Arena while winning their first-ever playoff match in the new venue. 

Like a heavyweight boxing match, both teams were feeling each other out as they were tentative on offense and playing solid defense. San Diego had the better of the scoring chances, coming close three times from inside the box, but each shot was high and off-target. Empire played their usual gambling-style of offense with goalkeeper Brian Orozco entering the midfield zone to support their attack. Neither side gave ground, and the first period ended scoreless. The second period would be different. San Diego’s regular-season second-leading scorer, Tavoy Morgan, broke the deadlock with a side-volley shot from just above the arc into the right side of the goal after Leonardo De Oliveira worked the ball from the right sideboard and gave Morgan a perfect pass to convert for the 1-0 lead at 3:29. Luiz Morales tallied a free-kick goal from the top of the arc at 10:47 for a 2-0 advantage. The Strykers answered immediately on a Marco Fabian goal with the assist going to Leopoldo Hernandez, only 16 seconds later. Thirty seconds later, Gabriel Costa stole the ball in midfield, dribbled to the yellow line, and launched a blast into the upper left corner for the unassisted marker and a 3-1 Sockers lead. 

San Diego increased its advantage to 4-1 at 3:15 on a skillful give-and-go play between Drew Ruggles and Costa, ending with the defender finishing his shot into the upper far left corner. 

In the fourth period, the Sockers played tight defense while taking selected chances to score, usually into an open goal, as Empire was forcing the issue on offense. Empire made it a bit more interesting with three minutes remaining on a goal by Mounir Alami to cut the deficit to 4-2. San Diego would close out the winning performance to advance to the Ron Newman Cup semifinals on Sunday.

The #1-seed Chihuahua Savage downed the #8 St. Louis Ambush 5-1 in the first quarterfinal of the day. Chihuahua will meet the lowest-seed remaining team on Sunday at 2:00pm in the semifinals. Frontwave Arena will host the other two quarterfinals on Saturday at 4:00pm and 7:30pm. 

The Sockers will find out their opponent in the single-elimination MASL Ron Newman Cup Playoff semifinal match on Sunday, April 6, 5:30pm at Frontwave Arena. Tickets for all MASL Playoff games between April 4-6 are available at AXS.com, FrontwaveArena.com, or SDSockers.com/tickets.