The shorthanded San Diego Sockers will play one match to decide the Major Arena Soccer League’s Ron Newman Cup finals.
The Milwaukee Wave forced a winner-take-all Game 3 by beating the Sockers 7-2 late Friday night in front of a Frontwave Arena-record crowd of 5,521. The teams will return to Oceanside on Monday night; win, and the Sockers will capture their 17th indoor soccer championship and their first MASL crown since 2022.
The visitors scored the final seven goals after the Sockers had taken a 2-0 lead.
Cesar Correa scored two goals to lead Milwaukee, which will look to carry the momentum into Monday’s decisive Game 3. The club is offering two-for-one ticket deals at frontwavearena.com and sdsockers.com.
San Diego was without Cesar Cerda, Luiz Morales and Jesus Pacheco, all of whom were suspended following a fracas at the end of Game 1. All three will be available for Monday’s Game 3. Stefan Mijatovic will never play in the MASL again; he was permanently banned from the league for “severe and violent conduct” at the end of Game 1, the league said.
Oscar Flores’ status is less clear. The rookie suffered a leg injury during warmups; he did not play in Game 2, and could miss Monday’s match as well. Defender
Gulls’ season ends in Colorado
The Colorado Eagles scored four third-period goals to beat the San Diego Gulls 6-1, eliminating the club from the American Hockey League playoffs and ending their season.
The two-game sweep sends the second-seeded Eagles to the AHL Pacific Division semifinals.
Colorado’s Jayson Megna scored and notched an assist; Trent Miner made 26 saves.
Sasha Pastujov scored the Gulls’ only goal, finding the net at the 10:44 mark of the first period to pull the teams even at 1-1. Colorado would score the next five goals, eliminating seventh-seeded San Diego from the best-of-three series in two straight games. The Eagles won Wednesday’s opener, 3-0.