With the win, the Sockers now hold a 37 game win streak and add the US Open Cup title to their other championships this season, the Ron Newman Cup (PASL Championship) and the FIFRA Club Championship. Last year the Sockers defeated the Kings for the Cup in an identical 13-6 score.

The U.S. Open Cup for Arena Soccer is a national open single-elimination tournament, featuring teams from the PASL, PASL-Premier, and independent teams. San Diego is the three-time champion, having beaten Louisville and Cincinnati in the two previous finals.

The Sockers wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, as Majell Aterado scored for San Diego less than a minute into the first quarter. Aaron Susi scored moments later to give San Diego a 2-0 lead in the first before the Kings' Jeff Henderson scored to cut the San Diego lead in half. Two more Socker goals gave the visitors a 4-1 lead after one, and three unanswered goals in the second stretched the lead to 7-1 before Chris Dobrowolski scored with a minute left in the period to make it a 7-2 game at the half.

The game turned defensive in the third until the Kings' Kwame Sarkodie scored on a power play with six minutes left to make the score 7-3, San Diego. A quick Kraig Chiles goal for San Diego was answered by two from the Kings, by Drew Ducker and Shawn Rockey, to make the score 8-5 after three. The two teams swapped goals at the start of the fourth, with the Kings' Sam Fiore scoring to make it a 9-6 contest but the Kings never got closer than that as San Diego added another score. After the Kings pulled goalkeeper Craig Salvati, the Sockers scored two quick goals to make it a 12-6 game then tacked on another late to make it a 13-6 final.

The Kings drew first blood against Dallas three minutes into the contest with a goal by Allen Eller; then Dallas evened it up a minute later on an Adan Ramirez score. The Kings rebounded with five unanswered goals before Dallas scored just before halftime to make it 6-2 Kings at the break.  

In the third quarter Dallas scored the only goal, from Bruno Dujmovic; then the Kings opened the fourth with an unassisted goal by Sarkodie. Two Dallas goals followed, but then the Kings put it away with an unassisted goal by Shawn Rockey, another goal by Sarkodie to complete the hat trick, and an unassisted from Eller just as the buzzer sounded.  

Dallas had 24 shots on goal to Cincinnati’s 18, with Kings’ goalkeeper Craig Salvati recording 19 saves.

Each team was 0-3 on the power play.

The date for the US Open Cup final with the Cincinnati Kings and San Diego Sockers is expected to be announced next week. The Kings’ last regular season home game will be Saturday, February 25 vs. Detroit at 7:35 pm at the Cincinnati Gardens.

The Ohio Vortex scored first on a Nate Yates goal, but the Kings answered with two straight, the first by Xavier University product Sam Fiore and the second by Nik Djokic to take a 2-1 lead. But a Vortex goal by Steve Gillespie with less than two minutes left in the first quarter tied the game at 2-2. It stayed that way until the closing two minutes of the second quarter, when the Vortex scored twice in less than a minute to take a 4-2 lead at the half.

The Kings made it a 4-3 game on a Kwame Sarkodie shorthanded goal with six minutes gone in the third, but the Vortex opened the fourth with two Mike Balogun goals, the last on a power play, to stretch the lead to 6-3. Sarkodie, the former University of Cincinnati product, scored his second of the night with 5:32 left in the game to make it 6-4, but the Vortex got three empty net goals in the last five minutes to just one Kings’ score, by Allen Eller, to make the final 9-5.

The next game for the Kings will be their US Open Cup semifinal match against Vitesse Dallas at Game Time Training Center on Friday, February 17 at 9 p.m. The regular season closes with a 7:35 p.m. home game against Detroit on Saturday, February 25 at the Cincinnati Gardens for a shot at the playoffs. 

Eller was brought in by the Kings this year to fill the offensive void created by the departure of Jeff Hughes and that is largely what he has done. In 13 games, Eller leads the Kings with 21 goals and 14 assists. He is tied for 2nd in the PASL with 35 points. Eller has recorded at least a point in all 13 games he has played this year. On Saturday, he led the Kings with two goals and two assists including the game winning goal in their 10-6 win over Kansas. Eller has recorded the game-winner in each of his last two games as he tries to rally the Kings back into the playoffs for the fourth straight year. 

The Kings trailed in the first quarter off a goal by the Magic’s player/coach, Randall Porter, six minutes into the game, but the Kings then rattled off seven unanswered goals to take a 7-1 lead by the half. Allen Eller, Xavier University’s Sam Fiore, and Nik Djokic each collected two goals, with Drew Ducker getting the remaining score in the half on a Kings power play for the seven-goal run.

The season’s largest crowd of 1,604 saw the teams trade goals in the third quarter, with University of Cincinnati product Jeff Henderson scoring to give the Kings an 8-2 lead going into the fourth. The Magic closed the gap with three goals late, but the Kings held on for the 8-5 victory.

With the win, the Kings move into a tie with the Illinois Piasa for the fourth and final playoff position in the Eastern Division. The Piasa will play this same Kansas team next Friday in their next to last regular season game. The Kings also have two games remaining, both at home. The next Kings home game will be Saturday, February 11 against the Ohio Vortex at 7:35 pm at the Cincinnati Gardens.

The Push for the Playoffs schedule is as follows:

Western Sports Mall, 2323 Ferguson Road, Cincinnati, OH 45238

Saturday, February 4, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.

Soccer City, 5770 Springdale Road, Cincinnati, OH 45247

Saturday, February 4, 1-3 p.m.

Rivers Edge Indoor Sports, 5255 Ohio 128  Cleves, OH 45002

Saturday, February 11, 1-3 p.m.

Field Sports Arena, 215 American Way, Monroe, OH 45050

Saturday, February 18, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.

The win over the Eastern Division leading Waza puts the Kings into the fourth playoff spot with three games to go.

The Kings drew first blood on a goal by former UC Bearcat Kwame Sarkodie in the first period, but the Waza evened it up just before the end of the quarter on a Ryan Mack power play goal. The Kings scored three times in the second quarter on two goals from Nik Djokic and a second by Sarkodie, but Detroit scored twice themselves to make it 4-3 Kings at the half.

Shawn Rockey scored halfway through the third period to stretch the Kings’ lead to 5-3, but Detroit answered with two in the third to even the game at 5-5 at the end of three. The Kings broke it open in the fourth with a power play goal by Matt Breines and another goal four minutes later by Allen Eller, then hung on to survive a Waza goal with 17 seconds left in the game to win, 7-6.

The game also doubled as a quarterfinal match for the US Open Cup. With the win, the Kings advance to the semifinals to play Vitesse Dallas of the Premier Arena Soccer League, who defeated the Denver Dynamite, 11-6, in the quarterfinals. The winner plays the San Diego Sockers for the US Open Cup title.

The Kings’ next home game is Saturday, February 4 at 7:35 p.m. against Kansas at the Cincinnati Gardens. 

First, the Illinois Piasa defeated Cincinnati Kings Saturday, 6-4. Illinois jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter and kept the Kings scoreless until the final second of the quarter, when Sam Fiore scored for the Kings with an assist from Kwame Sarkodie. The Kings then scored two in the second quarter, one by Drew Ducker and the second by Sarkodie, to make it a 3-3 game at the half. The two teams traded goals in the third, as the Kings' Craig Rhodis tied it at 4 all going in the fourth period. Illinois took the lead for good at the 9:32 mark in the fourth on a power play goal by Justin Judiscak. The Piasa picked up a goal in the final minute from Roger Gemoules for the final 6-4 tally.

In their second game of the weekend, the Kings traveled to Kansas to face the Magic on Sunday. After an opening Magic goal, the Kings' Allen Eller tied it with a goal and assist from Ducker. The score stayed that way until the second quarter, when the Kings' John Williams scored with the assist from Shawn Rockey to give the Kings the 2-1 lead. The Kings scored twice more in the quarter, with goals from Allen Eller and Ducker, to answer three Magic goals in the period to tie the game at 4-4 at halftime. 

The Magic scored the lone goal in the third to take the 5-4 lead into the fourth, when the Kings' Ryan Keiser scored with 6:47 left in the game to tie it at five. A final Magic goal with 2:16 in the game by Mirsad Dzilic, his eighth of the season, gave the Magic the 6-5 victory.

Cincinnati (January 13, 2012) -- Behind a two-goal night from Allen Eller, Kwame Sarkodie, Nik Djokic and Drew Ducker, the Cincinnati Kings defeated the Kansas Magic, 9-4, in PASL indoor soccer action Friday night at the Cincinnati Gardens.

The Kings opened scoring with less than two minutes gone in the first quarter on a goal by Xavier University’s Sam Fiore, then added a second goal less than a minute into the second quarter when Eller connected from close range. Two quick goals by the Magic tied the game at 2-2, but Djokic and former UC Bearcat Sarkodie gave the Kings the 4-2 lead going into the half.

The Kings scored the only goals in the third, the first from Ducker and the second by Eller to take a 6-2 lead going into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth, the Magic scored two quick goals to cut the Kings’ lead to 6-4, but Ducker answered with his second goal with less than five minutes to play. Sarkodie got his second with a tap-in into an empty Magic net and Djokic scored on a power play with less than a minute left for the final score.

The win gives the Kings a 4-5 record for the season, while the Magic fall to 4-2. The Kings’ next home game will be Saturday, February 4, at 7:35 p.m. against this same Kansas team on Boy Scout night at the Gardens.

Led by a four-goal night by Allen Eller, the Cincinnati Kings defeated the Louisville Lightning, 9-3, Friday night at the Cincinnati Gardens in a PASL league game that also doubled as a US Open Cup game.

Eller, who played at the University of Akron, had two goals in the second period to give the Kings the 2-0 lead at half, then added a third with 6:53 left in the period. The Kings’ fourth goal of the night came on a power play shot by Xavier University product Sam Fiore just as the extra-man advantage was expiring with 4:29 in the third. Fiore added a second power play goal in the last minute of the third to make the score 5-0 at the break.

In the fourth, Louisville got its first goal of the night from JT Murray but the Kings answered with four straight goals, the first from Eller, the next from UC alum Jeff Henderson and the following two from fellow Bearcat Kwame Sarkodie. Murray and Tee Shipalane tacked on two goals for the Lightning in the final minutes.

The win gives the Kings a 3-5 record as they advance in US Open Cup play to face the Detroit Waza. The Lightning are now 4-3 on the season.

The Kings’ next home game with be Friday, January 13 at 8:05 p.m. at the Cincinnati Gardens when they face Kansas.