“We love San Diego,” proclaimed Sockers head coach Phil Salvagio as his team celebrated winning the U.S. Open Cup with a 13-6 victory over the Cincinnati Kings at the Del Mar Arena on Saturday night.

Just one week prior, champagne and beer flowed freely in the visiting locker room in Cincinnati as the Sockers privately celebrated the PASL-Pro Championship win. However, this time the alcohol was replaced by blue and yellow balloons falling from the rafters as Sockers fans joined their team on the field to celebrate winning back-to-back championships in consecutive years.

“This is fantastic,” says General Manager John Kentera. “Kids are running around having fun. When I signed up, I said that I wanted to get a ring and I wanted to see families come out and bond like my family did many years ago. Look at this, we have kids playing on the field after the game popping balloons. This is what I signed up for. As great as that championship was last week, we wanted the fans to be able to come on the field like they did tonight. We wanted to share it with our friends, families, and the city of San Diego.”

Eddie Trujillo was among several fans that greeted the Sockers at the airport when they arrived from Cincinnati with the PASL-Pro championship trophy and partied with the team on the field on Saturday after the Sockers won the U.S. Open Cup. “I have been a big fan since 1982,” says Trujillo. “(The Sockers) have the players. They have the city behind them. It’s just fantastic.”

Mike Coulter is another fan who celebrated with the team on the field. “I have been in San Diego since I was very young,” says Coulter. “I am a Padres fan and I am a Chargers fan, but I love these Sockers. Absolutely incredible!”

“I think it’s great,” says Joe Tutino, the Sockers director of marketing and promotions. “It’s great that the fans got an opportunity to not only celebrate (the PASL-Pro) championship before the game but to be here for the entire game for (the U.S. Open Cup) and to come out on to the field and be part of this. The Sockers mean so much to the soccer community in San Diego, and to be able to win in front of them was a big deal.”

“The (fans) make us who we are,” says midfielder Eric Wunderle. After the game Wunderle was hounded by swarms of children requesting his autograph on balloons. Despite knowing his signature would not last for long he happily obliged. “It is an awesome feeling. I grew up a Sockers fan twenty years ago.”

“This is so good,” says 43-year old midfielder Paul Wright who was also on the Sockers team twenty years ago. “Last week was special in Cincinnati, but we wanted to do it in front of our fans here. Wow! With the balloons and the celebration and another cup, it’s fantastic!”

Wright also admitted it was a big relief for the team to complete the double repeat. “We’re the champs and everybody was gunning for us,” says Wright. “Everybody came with their A game. We lost two games all season and we still haven’t lost at home. (The team was under) a lot of pressure, but we feel so much relief now that we got it done again.”

With the championships in hand, the Sockers led by Kentera and Tutino will immediately turn their attention to next season.

Last year the pair joined the Sockers just 10 weeks prior to the start of the season and still managed to grow the average attendance over 60 percent from approximately 1,100 fans per game to over 1,800 and they also dramatically increased the number of sponsors.

“(The Sockers franchise) is in good shape,” says Tutino. “We did leaps and bounds over last year. We built on top of that foundation and hopefully we can put more (fans) in seats next year and go from there. (The team) has great ownership. The sky is the limit. We will see what we can do in terms of branching out and being more part of the community.”

Kentera concurs. “I expect to be able to continue to grow the franchise in respect to selling season tickets,” says Kentera. “More than anything else, I want to get out into the community and make our players accessible to the fans.”

The Sockers community involvement will begin over Fathers Day weekend with a four on four tournament open to all participants. During the summer the team will host eight separate soccer camps at the Poway Sports Complex.

If you are interested in participating in any of the Sockers events or to request a Sockers player at your own event, email Joe Tutino at Joe@sdsockers.com or visit sdsockers.com.