Sockers Release 2023-24 MASL Schedule
The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) today announced the league’s schedule, conference alignment, and playoff format for the 2023-24 championship campaign. The San Diego Sockers, two-time MASL champs and sixteen-time indoor soccer champions, will begin their final season at Pechanga Arena on Sunday, December 3 with a 5:05pm home match against the Tacoma Stars.
“It’s ‘go time’ and we’re ready to go,” said Sockers general manager Sean Bowers of the newly minted schedule, “After back-to-back Ron Newman Cups, we came up one leg short in the semifinals last season. Our goals remain simple: relentlessly pursue the best record in the league and the Ron Newman Cup championship.”
The Sockers, who will move to Oceanside in 2024 to begin play in the new Frontwave Arena (currently under construction), will play twelve regular season home games at Pechanga Arena, the club’s intermittent home since 1980. The 2023-24 home schedule features seven Sunday matches, three Saturday night contests, one Thursday, and one Friday night, culminating with the club’s final regular season home match at Pechanga Arena on Saturday, March 30, also against Tacoma.
The Sockers are searching for a third consecutive MASL Shield, awarded to the regular season points champion. San Diego posted a 22-2 record in the 2022-23 regular season, before losing in three games to Chihuahua Savage in the Western Conference Finals. All thirteen MASL clubs will play a 24-match schedule in 2023-24.
“We hunt the shield because we hunt the best record in the league, which means home-field advantage in the playoffs. We want our final season at Pechanga Arena to be one fans remember forever,” said Bowers.
The MASL will once again be split into a Western and Eastern Conference. The Sockers will be joined in a six-team West by the Chihuahua Savage, Dallas Sidekicks, Empire Strykers, Tacoma Stars, and Texas Outlaws (formerly named Mesquite). The East will consist of the Baltimore Blast, Harrisburg Heat, Kansas City Comets, Milwaukee Wave, Monterrey Flash, St Louis Ambush, and Utica City FC. Clubs will play twenty matches in-conference, and four matches out-of-conference.
The top four teams in each Conference will advance to the Ron Newman Cup playoffs, with first place playing fourth place, and second place playing third place, in a best-of-three series. Each series will consist of a full 60-minute home and away match for each club. If the series is tied after two matches, a Knockout Game will be immediately played at the host site of Game Two. A Knockout Game is a new 15-minute match, with all other rules remaining constant.
The Sockers face Western Conference opponents Tacoma and Empire six times each while taking on Texas and Chihuahua three times apiece. San Diego will also face off against Dallas twice, as well as Eastern Conference opponents Kansas City (home and away), St. Louis (home) and Milwaukee (away). The full schedule is listed below. Season and single-match tickets are now available for the complete 2023-24 MASL campaign at Pechanga Arena. Fans can call (866) 799-GOAL, or visit sdsockers.com to purchase tickets today.
Download 2023/24 SEASON Schedule
Download 2023/24 HOME Schedule
