The Sockers (13-0) are overflowing with great stories. For the fourth consecutive weekend San Diego swept back-to-back games in the Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL). They have now won 27 in a row (31 straight at home) and they clinched the PASL Western Division title with their latest triumphs. In the process, Kraig Chiles set the PASL single-season record for goals scored by netting his 42nd of the season. Yet one of the brightest stories was the emergence of reserve goalie Chris Toth.

Starting goalie Riley Swift’s absence was expected. Swift became a firefighter at the end of last season and he spent the weekend training with Cal Forest in Sacramento. This opened the door for Toth to defend the Sockers undefeated season against two tough opponents.

The closest the Sockers have come to losing this season were two sudden death overtime games against the Anaheim Bolts (4-7) in game 2 and the Tijuana Revolucion (7-5) in game 5. These are the same opponents they faced this past weekend.

On Friday, San Diego traveled to take on the Bolts. Despite being a road game, there was a homey feel for the Sockers in the Anaheim Convention Center because several fans from San Diego made the short trip.

Toth impressed the traveling fans with 20 saves. He also became an offensive weapon with several extremely accurate passes out of the box that hit his teammates in stride and should have turned into goals.

Kraig Chiles scored a hat trick and Brian Farber had five points (two goals and three assists) as the Sockers rolled past the Bolts 10-5. The win clinched the PASL Western Division for the third straight year.

Toth is a second year player and Friday’s performance was arguably one of the best of his young career. However, the real test came in playing less than 24 hours later against Tijuana. “My first back-to-back game with the Sockers,” Toth said. “I was little sore.”

Rookie forward Cesar Romero had led Tijuana (7-5) to four straight wins prior to Saturday night. Toth kept Romero and his teammates in check for the entire first half and San Diego took a 9-0 lead into the break thanks to several saves by Toth and Chiles who had a trick before the first quarter expired. Chiles added a fourth goal, his 42nd of the year, to set the PASL record for goals in a season.

Romero finally got by Toth midway through the third quarter for Tijuana’s first goal of the night. Romero scored again with a shot in the final second of the game, but his two goals was all Tijuana could muster against Toth. The Sockers won 13-2. “I had to come out and play well,” Toth said after the game. “Two goals. I will take that any day.”

Toth was credited with 17 more saves in the game and the two goals matched the lowest total allowed by a goalie in a game throughout all of PASL this season. “It’s tremendous,” coach Phil Salvagio said. “He is getting the experience now. The more games he gets in, the better he gets.”

Toth’s first experience came last year in Tijuana. San Diego won that game but Toth looked shaky at times, whereas during this weekend Toth frequently displayed veteran leadership.

“Nowadays I'm comfortable with the team,” Toth said. “Everybody knows me. We all train every week, and they feel a little more comfortable with me at the back of the net.”

Chris Toth is the son of legendary Sockers goalie Zoltan Toth whose #1 jersey is retired and is hanging in the rafters of the Del Mar arena. “He's learning the game,” Zoltan said of his son. “He earned his spot and right now he's playing very hot.”

Zoltan talked about some of the improvements he has seen in Chris over the past year. “He has good footwork,” Zoltan said. “He works very hard with that. He comes up and he is supporting the team. He doesn’t lose the ball. He doesn’t give bad rebounds and you know I am very proud of him.”

Zoltan is also proud of starting goalie Swift. “I use to private tutor him and he is very strong,” Zoltan said. “Riley is physically unbeatable. I think he will have a long career and he has long years to go. This battle is just a blessing for the San Diego Sockers to get the two best goal keepers in the PASL.”

Chris, however, believes he will be the future starting goalie for the Sockers and the future will likely be sooner than later as Swift transitions out of soccer into a career as a fire fighter. “We all think that,” Toth admitted. “Riley is still there and he is the guy. I just come in here and try to do my job and win.”