It was an up-and-down week for the San Diego Sockers franchise.

The Del Mar Arena will host the PASL playoffs.

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On Tuesday, the Sockers learned they will be hosting this year’s Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL) playoffs.

“This is our best opportunity to win it,” says Sockers GM/head coach Phil Salvagio. “We better take full advantage of it.”

The playoffs will be March 11-13 at the Del Mar Arena. The playoffs were originally scheduled to be held in Cincinnati. According to Sockers media relations director Laure Capozza, the Cincinnati arena had some sponsorship issues, and that opened the door the for a league vote on a playoff site.

“The reason why we got it is our facility is top notch,” says Salvagio.

Last week also gave the Sockers an opportunity to virtually knock out last year's PASL champions, the California Cougars (11-4), from the playoffs. That didn't happen, though. The Sockers lost 7-6 in the league's first-ever overtime shootout.

“For them it is a playoff game,” Salvagio said before the game. “If we beat them, more than likely they will not make the playoffs. If they beat us, they have a good chance of making the playoffs...We don’t want them here. As much as they want to come, we don’t want them.”

Despite the Sockers previous three victories over the defending champs, the Cougars have proven that they match up well against the Sockers and would be tough competition in a single-elimination tournament.

In each of the previous three games between the two teams, the Sockers won by just one goal. Two of those games ended in overtime.

Late in the second quarter in the most recent game, the Sockers had mustered only one goal from Craig Chiles, and trailed, 5-1.

A goal by Anthony Medina would bring the score to 5-2 going in the third quarter. The Sockers would rally late with three more goals from Chiles.The Cougars then added a goal, bringing the score to 6-5. Paul Wright scored with 1:25 left, tying the game and setting the stage for overtime.

In the 15 minute, sudden-death overtime, Medina hit the goal post three times, and Chiles had two shots on goal, but neither could find the net.

With neither team ending the game with a goal, the game advanced to the overtime shootout. Each team was given three shots on goal.

Enrique Tovar and Antonio Sutton scored for the Cougars. Unfortunately for the Sockers, only Chiky Luna’s goal was good. Shots by Aaron Susi and Chiles were blocked.

The Cougars victory means they likely will be coming to San Diego for the playoffs as a wild-card team.

It also means the Cougars’ hope for a Western Division title is still on life support. The Sockers will win the Western Division with either one more win or a Cougars loss.

The Cougars have one game remaining on their schedule next week, at home against the Edmonton Drillers. The Sockers have three remaining games: February 19 at Revolucion Tijuana and a home game versus the Mexicans on February 26. They finish the regular season on February 27 against Edmonton.

The Sockers need to win at least two of these three remaining games to guarantee them the best overall record in the PASL and secure the first seed in this year’s playoffs--and the rights to host the playoffs again next year.