Tropics Sign MASL Star Matt Clare From Tacoma Stars

LAKELAND, Fla – The Florida Tropics SC have announced their third trade of the month, acquiring Matt Clare from the Tacoma Stars. Per team and league policy, terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

 Clare played for the last three full seasons with the San Diego Sockers and was one of the key players that helped the Sockers to their last two Western Conference finals playoff appearances. In 59 Sockers regular season games, the 30-year old native of Ft. Lauderdale scored 58 goals. He was sent to Tacoma in a three-team blockbuster trade this past off-season. He has scored five goals in 10 games for the Stars so far in 2018-19.

 “To be able to acquire a player of Matt's talent at this point of the season is exciting news for us. His championship pedigree and refined skills will be a welcome addition to our lineup. He plays hard for all 60 minutes and can be a leader for some of our less experienced players as well,” Florida Head Coach Clay Roberts said. “We have suffered more than our share of injuries this year to our key players, but we are not wavering from our commitment to bring our fans the best team possible as this move indicates.”

 His indoor career started with the Norfolk Sharx in 2012, along with two different stints in Wichita and six games with the Syracuse Silver Knights before finding a home in San Diego. In all he has appeared in 142 arena games, scoring 148 goals. His best season came in 2014-15 with the Wichita B-52's when he knocked in 35 goals in just 17 games.

 The move is a homecoming of sorts for Clare, whose father John played four seasons of professional soccer with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1989-93) and two years of professional indoor soccer with the Canton Invaders of the National Professional Soccer League (1990- 92). Matt appeared in 27 games during the 2011 and 2012 seasons for the Tampa Bay Rowdies, scoring four goals.

 The Tropics are on the road this weekend for a game Friday night in St. Louis and Saturday afternoon in Kansas City. Clare is expected to be in the line-up for both games. Friday night’s game against the St Louis Ambush will be streamed live on MASL.tv at 8:35 p.m. ET. Sunday’s 2:05 p.m. ET match in Kansas City will mark the debut of the MASL on Eleven Sports. Available to over 55 million homes, Eleven Sports is available DirecTV, AT&T U-Verse, Verizon FiOS and many other cable and satellite providers. The digital channel Eleven Sports NEXT will also carry the game live and can be found on the Amazon Twitch Platform at: https://www.twitch.tv/elevensportsnext

 Florida will be on the road Feb. 9 when they meet the Milwaukee Wave, and return home for its only home game in February when the host the rival Orlando SeaWolves on the 16th at the RP Funding Center. For tickets visit rpfundingcenter.com/event-details/?eventId=26616

ABOUT THE TROPICS: Tropics Soccer Club is a professional soccer organization based in Lakeland, Florida. The Tropics operate a Major Arena Soccer League Franchise (Florida Tropics SC who play at the RPFunding Center in Lakeland), a USL PDL franchise (Lakeland Tropics who play at historic Bryant Stadium in Lakeland), a WPSL franchise (Florida Tropics SC Women’s). and the Kickers FC, one of the premier amateur club programs in the United State with seven national championships. The Tropics youth club umbrella includes Lakeland Tropics FC, Pinellas County United Tropics, and the Celebration Tropics. The Tropics are owned and operated by Central Florida Sports Ventures, LLC, headquartered in Lakeland, Florida. More information can be found at TropicsSoccer.com.