Farber and McNeley face off in MASL meeting

TACOMA, Wash. — Two longtime friends and former teammates, both with strong ties to soccer in Sandpoint, went head-to-head recently in Major Arena League soccer action in Tacoma.

Brian Farber tallied two goals as the 14-Time champion San Diego Sockers (13-3) clinched their second consecutive MASL Pacific Division title with a 10-3 win over the Tacoma Stars, and starting defender Evan McNeley.

The two first played together at Oregon State, after which Farber started bringing McNeley to Sandpoint to help him run a popular summer soccer camp. McNeley eventually took the camp over, and just finished a strong first season as the boys soccer coach at Sandpoint High School.

The two are both accomplished indoor pro players, and it marked another rare chance to face off against each other. Prior to the meeting, Farber had played midfield in eight games, with six goals and two assists, adding two more against McNeley’s defense.

McNeley has played defender in 16 games, tallying two goals and three assists for the Stars (8-10). Sockers goalie Chris Toth, who has come to Sandpoint in the past to help run the Strikers Camp with McNeley, was named to the MASL team of the week recently.

The Sockers (14-3) followed up winning the title with a 7-3 win over Sonora (11-7) on Sunday before the largest crowd of the season of 3,827 at Valley View Casino Center.

In the most recent game on Saturday, Farber scored two more goals to give him 10 on the season as the Sockers edged the Florida Tropics 5-4 on Saturday night at RP Funding Center in Lakeland, FL. San Diego moved to 16-3, while Florida drops to 9-9 and possibly out of postseason contention.

With two beautiful first-half goals, Brian Farber was the man of the match until a teammate’s late heroics. Sockers goalkeeper Chris Toth made a season-high 19 saves, some of the spectacular variety, to earn his seventh victory of the season.