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Toth signs with Fury

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

Chris Toth will be returning to the Major Arena Soccer League's Ontario Fury.

The 2007 Fallbrook High School graduate, who spent the 2020-21 MASL season with the Tacoma Stars, signed a contract with the Fury on Sept. 8.

"It's nice to be back," Toth said.

In November 2018, the San Diego Sockers traded Toth to the Fury. He spent two seasons with Ontario before signing with the Stars as a free agent in July 2020. The contract with Tacoma was for one year, so Toth was a free agent after the 2020-21 season.

"Tacoma was really great. I really loved playing there. They have a fantastic owner, fantastic people involved in the organization, and I'm just really grateful that I was able to be a Star last season," Toth said.

Toth appeared in seven regular-season games for Tacoma during 2020-21 and had a 3-2 record. He allowed 34 goals and had a goals against average of 5.28 per game. He saved 85 of the 119 shots taken against him for a .714 save percentage. The Sockers eliminated the Fury in the first round of the playoffs; Toth played one of those games and in the 6-5 overtime loss he saved 13 of 19 shots.

During the MASL off-season, Toth was with the U.S. national beach soccer team. In May, the national team participated in the regional qualifying tournament for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. The CONCACAF region for North America and Central America held its qualifying tournament in Costa Rica, and the United States and El Salvador were the two CONCACAF teams which qualified for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Moscow.

Toth thus spent part of August in Russia. "It was an unbelievable experience," he said.

During group play the United States, Japan, Paraguay, and the Russian Football Union had round-robin competition with three points being given for a win in regulation, two points for a win in extra time, and one point for a win in a penalty kick shootout. The top two teams in the group advanced to the knockout rounds.

"We had a very difficult group," Toth said.

The United States began play Aug. 19 against Russia. The Americans lost the 5-4 match in overtime. "We played Russia really well," Toth said.

Japan took a 4-3 victory over the United States in the Aug. 21 match. "That was a pretty close game," Toth said.

Paraguay and Russia entered the Aug. 23 matches with three points, so a U.S. win over Paraguay and a Japan victory against Russia would have triggered the goal differential tiebreaker to determine the second team to advance to the knockout rounds.

"We needed a certain amount of goals to go through, and it just kind of backfired a little bit," Toth said.

Paraguay won by a 9-4 margin. Even if the United States had won, Russia's 7-1 victory over Japan would have eliminated the Americans. Although that was Russia's only regulation victory in group play, Russia defeated Japan in the 5-2 final Aug. 29.

The 14-man United States roster included three goalkeepers, although Toth was the only one who played.

"We were right there," Toth said. "We played well, but at the same time we're not happy with how we did."

After he returned from Russia Toth prioritized his 2021-22 MASL team. "I've been very focused on making that decision where I was going to play," he said.

The three weeks in Russia influenced Toth's MASL decision. "I just ended up wanting to be a little closer to home," he said.

Ontario was interested in having Toth return to the Fury. "I ended up talking with them a little bit," he said.

Geography led to Toth's decision. "It's not in my backyard, but it's pretty close and I'm able to see my family, my wife, every day, and that's a big deal," he said. "It takes a toll on you when you're gone a lot."

The Ontario Fury is not affiliated with the Villa FC soccer club which was once the Fallbrook Fury, although Toth played on the Fallbrook Fury. He played for Mira Costa College between his graduation from Fallbrook High School and signing with the Sockers in 2009, when the team was in the Professional Arena Soccer League. He spent the 2009-10 season with the Sockers reserve team, split 2010-11 between the developmental team and the primary squad, and was with the Sockers from 2011-12 to 2017-18.

Toth was the MASL Goalkeeper of the Year for 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2020-21. He was also on the 2005-06 Avocado League first team as a Fallbrook High School junior.

"I look forward to this next season. I believe the team is really strong, and I can't wait to get to work," Toth said.

 

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