Leo Lifts Sockers To 9-8 OT Win

Leonardo De Oliveira’s overtime long-distance goal lifted the San Diego Sockers (19-4-0, 52, T-1st) over the Empire Strykers (11-10-2, 34, 7th) in a thrilling 9-8 win, moving the club into a first-place tie with Chihuahua (52 points with two games remaining). Kraig Chiles reached another milestone with two goals, and Luiz Morales and Drew Ruggles added two scores each. Goalkeeper Danny Waltman was spectacular in his San Diego debut earning the win. San Diego entered the final quarter leading 7-4, and had a 6-1 lead in the third.

The Sockers started quickly with a Christian Gutierrez unassisted nutmeg marker at 53 seconds of the opening quarter. Leo De Oliveira’s clever back-heel pass led to a Drew Ruggles’ tap-in goal at 12:44. For Ruggles, he has goals in consecutive matches and five of his last six. In addition, he has a point in 10 of his last 14 contests. Leo has a point in eight of his last 11 games.

Newcomer goalkeeper Danny Waltman made his San Diego debut after being acquired as a free agent on Friday. He had an early impact by making several key saves to deny the Strykers and preserve a Sockers’ 2-0 advantage at the end of the quarter. 

Kraig Chiles extended the Sockers’ lead when he converted a shootout attempt at 0:24 of the second after Tavoy Morgan was dragged down in the area for the penalty. 

Empire tallied a Justin Stinson goal at 9:44 from Robert Palmer just after their power-play opportunity ended to cut the Sockers’ lead to 3-1. The Strykers created chances with 22 shots on goal in the first half, the most against San Diego this season. Luiz Morales scored a “Goal Of The Week” nominee on a tremendous individual effort after collecting a De Oliveira back-heel pass, he muscled past an Empire defender, moved to the end boards, and put his shot from a tough angle into the roof of the goal to give San Diego control of the match again with under two minutes remaining in the half. Morales has a four-game goal streak and has points in eight straight matches.     

Sebastian Mendez took a Taylor Bond pass off a blocked shot and then dribbled from the midfield on a breakaway before sliding his shot inside the near post past Brian Orozco at 3:37 of the third for a 5-1 San Diego advantage. Midway through the stanza, Mendez trickled in a power-play goal inches away from the goal line for his brace. Chiles provided his eighth assist of the season. Stinson notched his fifth goal on the weekend and 28th on the campaign with a blast into the far-side netting at 8:19. Two minutes later, Marco Fabian got on the score sheet with his 25th of the season with a shot from inside the arc into an open goal. 

Chiles reached the 300 career MASL goal milestone on his shootout goal of the afternoon at the 14:50 mark. The opportunity was awarded after Orozco was called for a handball outside the area. The Captain calmly placed his shot inside the right post past the replacement goalkeeper Claysson De Lima. San Diego took a 7-4 lead into the final period.

The Strykers exploded for three immediate goals to start the fourth to level the match at 7-7. Abdul Mansaray started the scoring spree just 30 seconds in. Stinson secured his hat trick at 1:30 of the period, and 16 seconds later Mansaray tallied his second. The veteran San Diego side started to look tired from playing on back-to-back nights. Empire was energized by their largest crowd of the season. Mansaray punished the Sockers on an uncharacteristic Ruggles mistake. After stealing the ball from Ruggles in San Diego’s defensive zone, he easily scored to give Empire their first lead at 8-7. Ruggles atoned for his error with a one-touch goal for a brace off a Luis Ortega pass to finish a Sockers’ three-on-one counterattack at 7:11 to even the score.

In overtime, Waltman made two point-blank saves within the first minute to keep Empire off the board and allow for the game-winning heroics by De Oliveira. Leo controlled a loose ball from inside the Sockers’ defensive zone and with Orozco playing out of the goal at midfield, he sent a shot from behind his own yellow line and into the empty net to stun the Strykers at 4:30 of the extra period.

Waltman finished with a team season-high 20 saves for his first victory as a Socker.  

The Sockers return to Frontwave Arena to conclude the regular season against the Tacoma Stars on Sunday, March 30, 6:05pm for Fan Appreciation Night. San Diego seeks to complete an undefeated season at their new Oceanside venue. Tickets are available at AXS.com, FrontwaveArena.com or SDSockers.com/tickets.