San Diego Sockers Win 15th Indoor Title

The San Diego Sockers are very familiar to winning championships.  On Sunday, they added their 15th championship trophy after defeating the Ontario Fury 2-1 in the series-deciding mini-game to win the series 2 games to 1.  This was their first title since 2013. 

The Sockers were not even expected to compete for the championship after finishing the regular season with a losing record of 4-6 and entered the playoffs as the 5th seed team.  They swept both the Tacoma Stars and top-seeded Florida Tropics to get into the title game. The Sockers won the first game of the series 7-3 on Saturday.  Ontario tied up the series on Sunday edging the Sockers 6-5 in overtime to force the series-deciding mini-game.

In the mini-game, the Fury scored first on a goal by Abdul Mansaray but just 14 seconds later, Marcio Leite tied the game up getting past Ontario goalkeeper Claysson de Lima.  

Cesar Cerda scored the game and series winning goal with 56 seconds left.  After the go-ahead goal, the Fury brought on an extra attacker and fired a barrage of shots on goal in the final seconds but the Sockers were able to hold on to take the Ron Newman Cup.

During the playoffs, eleven different players scored goals for the Sockers during their dramatic run. They were 4-0 in the playoffs with three games decided in overtime.

Socker Titles:

• North American Soccer League (NASL) indoor:  1981-82, 1983-84
• Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL): 1982–83, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92
• Premier Arena Soccer League (PASL-PRO):  2009-2010, 2010-11 
• Premier Arena Soccer League (PASL):  2011-12, 2012-13
• Major Arena Soccer League (MASL):  2020-21