Wednesday is Legends Night at the Del Mar Arena as the San Diego Sockers honor their 1985-1986 championship team that won a fifth consecutive indoor title, or “One For the Thumb.” It also opens the Sockers defense of their U.S. Open Cup title.

Sockers Paul Wright, Scott Martin, Aaron Susi and Dan Antoniuk.

^{Photo by Dan McLellan}

The Open Cup is a single elimination tournament open to all PASL-Pro and PASL-Premier teams. Last season the Sockers won the Open Cup in addition to winning the Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL-Pro) Championship. With last year’s Open Cup title the Sockers earned an automatic spot in the quarterfinals of this season’s tournament.

Meanwhile, the San Diego Fusion, the Sockers' feeder team, beat out 17 other teams in early Open Cup action to earn the right to play their big brothers in the quarterfinals. With two San Diego teams facing off, the hometown is guaranteed a win, right.

It is also the first game back for the Sockers after a grueling four-game (2-2) road trip that started on December 11 just south of the border, with the Sockers defeating Revolucion Tijuana, 6-5. In that game, Anthony Medina scored a golden goal for the win only 35 seconds into overtime. The Sockers also had a brilliant performance from Chris Toth, the son of ‘80s legendary goalie Zoltan Toth, who made several point-blank fourth quarter saves in his first career start for the Sockers.

The Sockers then embarked to the Midwest where they played in physically demanding back-to-back games on December 17 and 18 against the Louisville Lightning in Kentucky and the Cincinnati Kings, who boasted a perfect 18-0 home record.

Against the Lightning, Kraig Chiles and Nick Perera each scored a hat trick and earned four points individually as the Sockers jumped to leads of 7-1 and 10-2 before a 10-7 victory.

The next day’s game against the Kings was the first meeting ever between the two franchises and the Sockers lost their first game of the season 5-4. However, the defeat did not come without controversy. The Kings used two more players in the game than allowed by league rules, playing 15 instead of 13.

While San Diego was told there would be a decision regarding the extra players last week, as of Tuesday of this week the league has yet to rule or comment on the Kings use of extra players. The Sockers will wait on Commissioner Kevin Milliken’s decision before making an official statement on the matter.

In turns out that game may have more significance in the standings than originally anticipated. The Sockers finished their four-game trip on Monday by taking on their division rivals the California Cougars in Stockton who were 0-6 on the season. However, the Sockers blew a late fourth-quarter, 7-5 lead when California went to six attackers with 5:07 to play and managed to tie the game late on an Antonio Sutton goal. Sutton then won the game for the Cougars with a golden goal in overtime.

With their second loss in a row the Sockers are tied with Revolucion Tijuana and the Tacoma Stars in the loss column with two in the PASL-Pro Western Division standings. However, they maintain a game and a half lead over both teams because they have three more wins.

Wednesday’s Open Cup will not count in the PASL-Pro standings; however it will have a playoff feel to it because it is a tournament.

The Open Cup game starts at 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday. After the game, current players and legends like Juli Veee, Zoltan Toth, and Bronco Segota will be available for autographs.

PASL-Pro Western Division Standings

San Diego Sockers 6-2

Revolucion Tijuana 3-2

Tacoma Stars 3-2

California Cougars 1-6