By Chris Davis

PECHANGA ARENA SAN DIEGO — Game number 112 on the 2018-19 Major Arena Soccer League master schedule saw the Tacoma Stars travel South to take on the San Diego Sockers the day after Valentine’s Day on Ron Newman Field at Pechanga Arena San Diego.

No big deal normally, and when you look at the table it was top team vs second place, about halfway through the season.

But when you add in this new guy named Landon Donovan for the Sockers (13-1), it turned a game that might have drawn maybe 2,000 (given that Tacoma recently traded San Diego favorite Matt Clare to Florida) into a game that had 7,000+ seats sold two days before the match.

The Sockers defeated Tacoma (6-7) by a 6-4 final count in front of 8,492. The biggest crowd in modern Sockers History. The win now drops the magic number to clinch the Pacific to five. That number could be as low as three if the Sockers take care of business on Sunday in Tacoma.

Brian Farber got the faithful in full voice as he put the Sockers up 1-0 when he nicked a nice pass from Taylor Walter Bond by the Stars keeper Carvalho.

Tacoma (6-7) tied it up with about four minutes to go in the first quarter.

Then the second quarter erupted!

The Sockers put four in the net. The highlight for those in attendance was with 2:24 until halftime, Brandon Escodo knocked in his team-leading 18th goal off the foot of the one person everyone came to see. Number 9, Landon Donovan, for his first MASL assist while the Blue and Gold were on the power play.

During the halftime, celebrity match, our own CEO David Frerker almost put one in the back of the net but came away with an assist with just ten seconds left in the contest to tie it up at 3-all.

The Tacoma Stars outscored the Sockers 3-1 in the second half. Two of those goals came from Nick Perera who now has 17 goals on the campaign.

1st Quarter Recap: Shots: TAC — 3, SD — 6.
7:42 — SD: Farber (8) (Bond, 4) 1-0 SD
11:20 — TAC: Lund (12) (Johnson, 1) 1-1

2nd Quarter Recap: Shots: TAC — 4/7, SD — 6/12.
3:39 — SD: Cerda (2) (Pino, 4) 2-1 SD
6:35 — SD: Gonzalez (1) (Bond, 5) 3-1 SD
9:36 — SD: Pino (3) (Pardo, 1) 4-1 SD
12:23 — TAC PEN: Perera (accumulation of fouls) 2:00
12:36 — SD: Escodo (18) (Donovan, 1) PP, 5-1 SD

3rd Quarter Recap: Shots: TAC — 3/10, SD — 3/15.
9:06 — TAC: Perera (16) (Lund, 5) 5-2 SD
12:38 — SD: Pittman (6) (Contreras, 2) 6-2 SD
13:06 — TAC: Perera (17, 2nd) (Megson, 1) 6-3 SD

4th Quarter Recap: Shots: TAC — 7/17, SD — 4/19.
2:43 — TAC: Peterson (2) (UA) 6-4 SD
6:38 — TAC PEN: Da Silva (boarding) 2:00

San Diego Sports Domination player of the game: Taylor Walter Bond.

San Diego Sports Domination celebrity of the game: CEO David Frerker.

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