AROUND THE LEAGUE: WEEK 6

by Joseph Reina

**The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the viewpoints or positions of the Major Arena Soccer League.**

@josephreina21

Sockers Get Their Statement Win

Few teams across the league had as successful of an offseason as Phil Salvagio’s side, but he’ll be the first to say the regular season hasn’t started the way they hoped. An opening loss on the road against Tacoma led the way for a slew of shaky and unconvincing performances, but now, six games in, San Diego is officially firing on all cylinders.


While the tempo ebbed and flowed as the Sockers and Savage battled, the importance of this particular meeting cannot be overstated. Chihuahua started their campaign with a flurry of goals and very few slips. Against Tacoma, they narrowly escaped with a shootout win but in their four home games, the Savage outscored their opponents by a combined 39 goals, for an average margin of victory of 9.75.




By comparison, San Diego scored just 25 goals through their first four games and clinched each of their three wins by a single goal. This frequently free-scoring, brazenly braggadocious team has starved in front of the net this season. Going into Sunday, they averaged 0.165 goals per shot (GPS), one of the lowest in the MASL and well below the 0.205 league average.


Despite the Savage boasting the best defensive GPS in the league, that script was dead upon arrival, as the Sockers scored six goals from 16 shots for their best attacking performance of the season thus far. Tavoy Morgan’s four goals marked his best night in front of goal since Mar. 31, 2022, while in goal, Boris Pardo made several jaw-dropping saves to keep the Savage at bay.




It marks a fresh start for the Sockers who easily have one of most talented rosters in the league. For years they’ve benefitted from the luxury of having too many legends, if that’s even possible, and now that the next generation of superstars is taking to the turf, finding that groove, that sweet spot between the individual and the team will be crucial to replicating their success of old.


Their next two games will be massive tests, to see if they have the gall to consistently take it to the league’s best and emerge victorious. First, they’ll travel to Tacoma on Friday, Jan. 10 at 10:05 PM EST, and then they’ll welcome the visiting Kansas City Comets at Frontwave Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 15 at 10:35 PM EST.


Rough Start in Tacoma

It’s hard to explain how or why the Stars have found themselves in this precarious position. This five-game losing streak feels like a fluke that just won’t quit, much like Kansas City’s run of bad form last season. And still, it goes on.


It’s easy to blame the difficult schedule Tacoma faces. Five of their first seven opponents were San Diego or Chihuahua, but at home, they managed to beat the Sockers and took the Savage to a shootout. They’ve missed Stefan Mijatovic, who is representing the United States at the Kings World Cup Nations Tournament in Italy, but even with Chris Toth and Nick Perera, who became the MASL all-time assist leader this weekend, they haven’t been able to get a result against Empire in two attempts.




They employ a system that does not generate a high volume of shots and they haven’t converted those shots at a rate even close to the league average so far. Defensively, the story isn’t much better as they give up more shots and shots on target per game than the league average.


It’s fair to say then, that their saving grace has been Toth between the pipes. Last year’s Goalkeeper of the Year has faced the third most shots this season but is only conceding 4.59 goals per game while leading the league with 87 saves and an 80.6% save percentage.




The clock is ticking and the Stars need to start winning some of these games soon because their gauntlet never truly ends. Wins will be hard to come by but this team is talented and well-coached enough to get the results. That being said, they’ll likely need to take at least six points from January if they want any chance of staying in the playoff hunt.


Last season’s team caught the league’s attention by winning 16 games, including three against San Diego and Chihuahua. They have the chance to do that again this season and this weekend’s game could prove crucial, when they host the Sockers on Friday, Jan. 10, at 10:05 PM EST.


Time To Talk Tavernese

We’ll shift our focus to Texas, where the Harrisburg Heat endured a two-game back-to-back against the Sidekicks and the Outlaws, and managed to secure their first win of the season after a pair of gutsy, difficult performances on the road. Dominic Francis finished the game with a hattrick and an assist, but it’s time to give some credit to Joey Tavernese. Harrisburg’s leading goalscorer this season played a key role in the win with a hattrick and assist of his own, taking the 35-year-old level with Kelvin Oliveira atop the league’s goalscoring chart.




It’s impossible to overstate how good Kelvin’s season has been, but while he has deservedly stolen all the headlines, let’s not ignore the incredible campaign going on in Harrisburg as well. Leading the league in goals is an impressive feat, but compared with the rest of the league’s top goalscorers, Tavernese also separates himself from the pack thanks to his tremendous shooting percentage. Even when you directly compare Tavernese with Kelvin, he’s only taken one more shot than his Brazilian counterpart and scored the same amount of goals.




Tavernese and the Heat will enjoy a light January before they face a schedule gauntlet that includes seven games in February and eight in March. With the other teams around them picking up points regularly, they will likely face an uphill battle to catch the pack. Their next game isn't until Saturday, Jan 25 when the Sidekicks will visit the Equine Arena in Harrisburg for a massive game with undeniable playoff implications.