Toth, Palmerin part of Sockers' perfect season

Two Fallbrook players were part of the 2011-12 San Diego Sockers who not only won the Professional Arena Soccer League championship but also posted a perfect season.

Chris Toth and Mikel Palmerin were part of the Sockers team which finished 24-0 for the indoor soccer year, including 18-0 in PASL play. The Sockers captured the PASL championship March 10 with a 10-7 victory over the Detroit Waza in the championship finals. A 13-6 win over the Cincinnati Kings on March 17 gave the Sockers the U.S. Open Cup title to add to their PASL championship and their FIFRA (Federacion Internacional de Futbol Rapido) Club Championships title.

"It's been a great year. We've been working hard, and it's nice winning the championship," Palmerin said.

"This year was real special. We started off strong, had a couple of games go into overtime, so we could have lost," Toth said.

On two occasions the Sockers overcame a 5-2 deficit in the third quarter to win a PASL game in sudden-death overtime. The Sockers opened their PASL season Nov. 12 with a 10-6 road victory over the Anaheim Bolts and then turned a three-goal Bolts lead into a 6-5 Sockers lead in San Diego's Nov. 19 home opener. A goal by Anaheim's Majell Aterado tied the score with 46 seconds left in regulation, but Brian Farber's third goal of the night gave the Sockers a 7-6 overtime win.

Toth shared the Sockers' goalkeeping duties with Riley Swift, who was in the nets Dec. 9 when the Sockers played Revolucion Tijuana in Tijuana. The Sockers trailed by a 5-2 margin with 2:39 remaining in the third quarter before scoring the game's final four goals. Swift stopped a fourth-quarter penalty shot to contribute to a tie after regulation. In the first minute of overtime Kraig Chiles scored to give the Sockers a 6-5 victory.

"It was tough to win in Tijuana," Toth said.

Toth played all four of the FIFRA Club Championships games in Monterrey, Mexico. The Sockers defeated the Monterrey Flash by a 5-4 score on the first day of the tournament Feb. 2, defeated teams from Canada and Ecuador in their next two games, and faced the Flash in the finals Feb. 5. The Sockers' 5-3 win in the championship game included the Flash being awarded a penalty kick in the fourth quarter. Jorge Duran's penalty kick was stopped by Toth, who subsequently blocked Duran's shot of the rebound.

Toth had a 6-0 record in PASL play along with a 3.23 goals against average and an .823 save percentage. Toth, the son of the only San Diego Sockers goalkeeper ever to score a goal, also had three assists.

Swift manned the Sockers goal for the other 10 PASL games.

"When he's not playing I'm always trying to step up and do my part," Toth said of Swift. "I think everyone's kind of comfortable with me going in if Riley's not able to go."

Sockers coach Phil Salvagio promised to buy his players iPods if the Sockers won every game, which gave the players incentive to maintain a perfect season.

"Everyone was pushing each other," Toth said. "It was pretty sweet."

Toth and Palmerin grew up together and have been friends since they were in second grade at Maie Ellis Elementary School. Each spent two seasons on Fallbrook High School's varsity boys soccer team before graduating in 2007.

"There's a lot of great talent in soccer in Fallbrook," Palmerin said.

Palmerin and Toth also each played at Mira Costa College for one year after graduating from high school. Palmerin then played in Mexico.

"I was trying to get signed professionally down there," he said.

The Sockers, who had ceased operations in 2004, were revived in 2009 and joined the PASL. The PASL has a developmental league which includes the San Diego Fusion. Toth spent 2009-10 on the Fusion and split 2010-11 between the Fusion and the Sockers. Palmerin was signed by the Fusion for 2010-11 before being assigned to the Sockers for 2011-12.

"It was a great experience," Palmerin said of his first Sockers season. "It was nice having all my family and friends there."

The PASL allows a 22-player roster, although only 14 players suit up for each game. Palmerin's limited playing time with the Sockers included his first PASL goal.

"For me to grow up and watch them and now I'm playing with them and also winning a national championship is great," Palmerin said.

"He had a pretty good year, too," Toth said of Palmerin. "It was good for him to get onto the team a little bit."

Palmerin also provides personal training, and he coaches with the Carlsbad Lightning youth club.

The United Indoor Football League's Sioux Falls Storm won 40 consecutive games from 2005 through 2008.

"Next year we're really going to push to try to beat that," Toth said.

"We go out there with the mentality that we're going to win. We don't have any other choice," Palmerin said.

The third-longest winning streak in professional sports was the 33 consecutive victories the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers posted against National Basketball Association opposition. Toth was in goal Feb. 24 in Turlock when the Sockers tied the Lakers' streak with an 8-4 victory. The Sockers' 32nd consecutive win was a Feb. 11 home victory against the Arizona Storm. Toth tied a PASL season low by allowing only one goal in the Sockers' 13-1 victory. Swift was in goal Feb. 25 when the Sockers defeated the Tacoma Stars to close out the regular season and surpass the Lakers' streak.

The PASL championship was the second for Chris Toth and the ninth for the family. Zoltan Toth's seven indoor championships included five for the Sockers as well as two for the New York Arrows.

"I'm very happy," Chris Toth said. "I've trained my whole life with my dad and he's a big part of where I am now."

Chris Toth is actually a third-generation goalkeeper; Gyorgy Toth played for the Hungarian National Team as did Zoltan Toth before he defected to the United States in 1979.

"I'm just really happy that I can be a part of the long history," Palmerin said of his first Sockers championship.

Swift was in the nets March 17 when the Sockers played in the U.S. Open Cup championship. Chris Toth, who was with the Sockers for the PASL playoffs, is also on the U.S. national beach soccer team which played in Brazil in March (the Americans lost to Brazil in regulation and lost penalty kick shootout matches to Mexico and Argentina).

Palmerin has also been invited to train with the U.S. national beach soccer team, whose upcoming activity will include the Miami Cup tournament in May.

"It was a great first year for me. Everything kind of unfolded," Palmerin said. "It just happened to be a perfect season. It's going to go down in the history books, and it's great to be a part of that."

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