There was a big contrast between what the locker room felt like Wednesday night after a 8-5 win over the Empire Strykers compared to the locker room following Sunday’s loss to the Chihuahua Savage, their first loss of the season.
After the game on Sunday, they were bewildered, but mostly just exhausted from the night before’s game and early morning travel that day with very little sleep. Even at practice on Tuesday morning, it didn’t feel the same as weeks prior.
“When you play so bad, and you come off a home loss, you know, your jobs are on the line, you feel that pressure,” Phil Salvagio said.
However, winning makes everything better, especially after a very complete performance by the entire team like one that happened at Toyota Arena on Wednesday night.
“We really played well for most of the game. You know, we’re shorthanded player-wise and a lot of rookies
The first difference was in the first minute. After not scoring for the first 57 minutes of Sunday’s match, this game started with this first-minute laser from Gabriel Costa.
#GabiGoal gets us going! 1-0 on the goodfoot #LeaveALegacy pic.twitter.com/FusDhxqVCt
— San Diego Sockers (@SanDiegoSockers) January 18, 2024
That was followed by a five-goal third quarter that featured five different goal scorers.
POST-POST-GOAL that's using all the woodwork! Gabriel Costa cleans up a brace and a 5-1 lead #LeaveALegacy pic.twitter.com/LeahXNbpKq
— San Diego Sockers (@SanDiegoSockers) January 18, 2024
And then this Goal of the Year caliber bicycle kick from Brandon Escoto, his second goal of the day.
GOLAZO GOLAZO GOLAZO
— San Diego Sockers (@SanDiegoSockers) January 18, 2024
Brandon Escoto Bicycle Kick from BEHIND THE YELLOW LINE! You have to see it to believe it!!! #QueGOLAZO #LeaveALegacy pic.twitter.com/OH8MaTEpgz
It was great to see the team bounce back like they did in this one. And not just that they went on the road to Ontario and absolutely dominated the match, but everyone got involved.
Six different players combined for eight goals in the three-goal victory that at one point was a seven-goal lead.
The statline saw two goals from Escoto and Costa, and a goal each for Tavoy Morgan, Drew Ruggles, Charlie Gonzalez, and the first of the season by Juan Gonzalez.
It was especially great to see the two-goal second half from Escoto after he missed two chances in the second quarter. His first goal gave the Sockers some much-needed insurance at the time to give them a 4-1 lead 2:29 into the third quarter, and his second landed him a Goal of the Year-caliber score.
“A little bit of heavy legs,” Escoto explained through teammate and translator extraordinaire Leonardo De Oliveira after the match. “[I] was on rotation a little long, you know, just defending, going back and forth, so it’s just [my] legs didn’t given [me] enough, but once [I] came at halftime, [I] was able to rest, catch [my] breath, and the second half [I] had the strength and the energy to be able to take that shot.”
–For as good as the team felt following the third quarter, there was still some concern after they allowed four goals in the fourth quarter, three of which came with the Strykers on the sixth attacker.
“We haven’t seen it too much, so we’ve got to practice it a little bit better. We’re not even halfway through the season yet so we’ve got some work to do,” Salvagio told me.
They’ve struggled with defending against six attackers before. Just as much as they did on Sunday when they spent probably close to half the fourth quarter with six attackers themselves only to score once.
It’s something that will need to be addressed sooner rather than later because when it comes down to the final eight, four teams in the playoffs, it’ll be something that opposing teams will use to their advantage.
Still, nobody inside the organization is worried about it. They know what they’re capable of and seeing opposing teams do it now still allows time to work on it before the season is over.
–Just like they did it in practice. I had just seen this movie the day before at the Sockers practice field at Bradley Park. Kraig Chiles and the rest of the offense practiced what they would do in a free kick opportunity for about 20 minutes.
Well, sure enough, they got that opportunity. And after seeing how Empire set up, Chiles called a timeout to formulate their plan.
THAT'S 400! @KraigChiles sets up Drew Ruggles with the clever fake and perfect pass--his 400th point in the @MASLarena! #LeaveALegacy pic.twitter.com/bF58ABOlKp
— San Diego Sockers (@SanDiegoSockers) January 18, 2024
Chiles started with a small fake, pointing towards Ruggles who was wide open outside the edge of the other side of the box, before passing it to him and finding the far corner beyond the defenders.
The assist gave Chiles his 400th career MASL point. He became just the fifth player in league history to reach the milestone, joining Franck Tayou, Ian Bennett, Leo Gibson, and Nick Perera. Chiles is the second player to do so with just one team (Gibson, Kansas City Comets).