Chris Toth makes 21 saves on San Diego Socker's poster night

The San Diego Sockers' promotion for their Feb. 11 home game was Chris Toth Poster Night in which the team gave away posters featuring four photos of the 2007 Fallbrook High School graduate who is now the Sockers' first-string goalkeeper.

"It was just a real special night. I thank Coach Kentera for doing that for me. It was pretty cool," Toth said.

Sockers general manager John Kentera was responsible for the Chris Toth Poster Night promotion. "I thought it was something we needed to do. Chris has been a valuable member of our team for the last six years," Kentera said. "I'm just real proud of his hard work and his development and his dedication and I thought he deserved to have that."

Toth played in the nets that night when the Sockers defeated the Tacoma Stars. Toth faced 25 shots, allowing four goals but making 21 saves to help the Sockers secure a 5-4 victory.

"He played great," Kentera said.

"There were a lot more than usual," Toth said of facing 25 shots. "On that night I had to step up because it was Chris Toth Poster Night."

The Sockers and Stars faced each other three times during the regular season. Although the Stars won the Feb. 20 match in Tacoma, the Feb. 11 victory gave the Sockers wins in both of the first two games and thus the tiebreaking advantage for second place in the Major Arena Soccer League's Pacific Division after both teams finished the regular season with 13-7 records.

"It gave us the tiebreaker over them," Toth said. "It was good to win that game."

The Sockers' second-place status gives them a March 6 home game in the first round of the playoffs; if the two teams split the game in Tacoma and the March 6 game, a mini-game following the conclusion of the second game will take place in the Valley View Casino Center commonly known as the San Diego Sports Arena. The winner of the series will advance to the next round against Pacific Division regular-season champion Soles de Sonora.

"He's had a good year, I think. As the year's gone on he's gotten better and better," Kentera said of Toth.

The Sockers joined the Professional Arena Soccer League in 2009, and in 2014 the PASL and the Major Indoor Soccer League merged to form the Major Arena Soccer League. Toth spent 2009-10 on the Sockers' San Diego Fusion developmental team and split 2010-11 between the Fusion and the Sockers. When Toth joined the Sockers, Riley Swift was the team's starting goalkeeper.

Although Toth was a rookie in 2010-11, he was in the nets for the PASL semifinal game between the Sockers and the Mexico City Sidekicks and made 11 saves in the Sockers' 7-3 victory.

"He did a great job," Kentera said. "Chris really stepped up in that semifinal game."

The Sockers' 24-0 perfect season in 2011-12 included not only the PASL championship but also the February 2012 Federacion Internacional de Football Rapido (FIFRA) club championship in Monterrey, Mexico. Toth was the Sockers' goalie for all four of the team's FIFRA games. He was also in the nets for six regular-season PASL games while Swift played goalkeeper for the other 10 regular-season PASL games and the two PASL playoff contests.

The Sockers would eventually win 48 consecutive games to set an all-time record for a North American professional sports team and, in November 2012, Toth played goalkeeper in an 18-3 road win over the Arizona Storm which gave the Sockers 40 consecutive wins to tie the then-record originally set by the Sioux Fall Storm of the United Indoor Football League.

"As far as being a student of the game there's no goalie I'd rather have in this league than Chris Toth," Kentera said.