Sockers One Win Away From The Cup
OCEANSIDE, CA (Sunday, April 13, 2025) - Luiz Morales, Tavoy Morgan, and Drew Ruggles had two goals each to power the #2 seed San Diego Sockers - presented by Kaiser Permanente - to a 7-5 win over the top-seed Chihuahua Savage in Match One of the best-of-three MASL Ron Newman Cup Finals presented by Verizon. A crowd of 3,866 watched as the Sockers finished the season 15-0 at Frontwave Arena and moved to within one win away from winning their 17th indoor championship and their third Ron Newman Cup.
Tavoy Morgan opened the scoring with a header goal at the back post off the pass from Gabriel Costa, only 53 seconds into the contest. The Sockers’ lead was short-lived as Carlos Hernandez’s shot was deflected into the goal off Charlie Gonzalez to level the score at 1:42. The period would end tied at 1-1.
San Diego went up 2-1 on a tremendous individual effort by Luiz Morales at 3:34 of the second. He stole the ball outside the yellow line and then dribbled diagonally past a Savage defender and chipped the sprawling goalkeeper from just outside the box for the unassisted marker. Morales has a goal in each playoff game. Drew Ruggles, who now has a goal in two of the last three, extended the lead with a shot that hit the underside of the crossbar and into the goal at 5:14. Leonardo De Oliveira was credited with the assist for a three-match point streak. San Diego killed off two penalties midway through the quarter to hold the lead.
Chihuahua took advantage of lax San Diego defense play just 43 seconds into the second half on a Bryan Macias’ free kick from outside the yellow line to an uncovered Hugo Puentes inside the area for the easy score. Kraig Chiles calmly converted a penalty kick to the right side of the net at 9:10 after Jorge Leal was called for kicking Morgan while on the ground inside the area. The “Captain” has a two-game goal streak. Twenty-four seconds later, Morgan would punish the Savage for his brace on a wonderful trap-and-shoot goal off the Luis Ortega pass. Morgan has points in three straight playoff games and a goal in two of three. The Sockers took a 5-2 advantage into the final stanza.
Puentes was the benefactor of an unfortunate bounce as his shot went wide but hit a sliding Boris Pardo and bounced into the goal. However, San Diego answered quickly when Ruggles tallied his second goal of the night when he poked home a Chiles’ pass to re-establish the three-goal margin with just over 11 minutes left. At 8:20, Morales would again dazzle as he took a Morgan pass from the sideboard and beat two defenders with a turnaround shot from the corner of the area for a 7-3 lead. Chihuahua battled as Puentes recorded two goals in 2:14 to raise the nerve level at Frontwave with under two minutes left. The Savage could not get any closer for a final score of 7-5.
Pardo earned his third postseason (3-0) victory by making 11 saves on 16 shots.
San Diego lost Ortega in the second half to an apparent season-ending lower-body injury.
The MASL Ron Newman Cup Finals continue next Sunday, April 20, 5:05pm, at Corner Sport Arena in Mexico with Match Two and a possible Mini-Game if needed. San Diego was 0-2 this season at Corner Sport Arena. The action will be available to watch on the CBS Sports Golazo Network.