STARS DROP OVERTIME THRILLER TO SOCKERS, 7-6
OCEANSIDE, CA. – The Tacoma Stars (7-4-1) and San Diego (7-4-1) locked in a battle on Sunday night in which both teams held a lead and required a goal by Nick Perera with five seconds left to force overtime before the Sockers eventually edged out a 7-6 win.
Tacoma, who was held off the scoreboard in their first trip to Oceanside this season, struck first on a counter-attack goal led by Tyler John. He fed a cross-box pass to Logan Jones who beat San Diego keeper Boris Pardo for his sixth goal of the season.
San Diego picked up their first goal of the game on an outlet pass by Pardo, which had the Stars defense thinking was a three-line pass. When Tacoma stopped on the play, Perera notched an easy goal for the Sockers to level the game at 1-1.
Just over a minute later, Leonardo de Oliveira fought off a Tacoma defender for an unassisted goal to give the Sockers a 2-1 lead with 2:19 to play in the first quarter.
The Sockers netted their third unanswered goal off the foot of Drew Ruggles on a 2-on-1 opportunity fed by Gabriel Costa to make it 3-1 with 12:42 to go in the half.
The Stars had a quick answer to that goal when team captain Alex Caceres held the ball in the right attacking corner, drawing in two San Diego defenders. Caceres split the defenders with a pass to Nani Mendoza, who picked up his seventh goal of the season to bring the Stars within one at 3-2 with 12:01 to go.
John leveled the game for Tacoma, on a Yahir Romero assist with less than a minute to go in the first half. The first 30 minutes of play ended even on the scoreboard at 3-3 despite the Sockers outshooting the Stars by an 18-11 margin.
To open scoring in the second half, Perera’s second point of the game came on an assist to Sebastian Mendez to put the Sockers back up by one at 4-3 just over five minutes into the third frame.
Adrian Correa found his way onto the scoresheet on a play set up by Romero. He sent a pass from yellow line to yellow line on the foot of John, who notched his third point of the game assisting Correa to level the game at 4-4 with 7:55 remaining in the third.
Perera, who entered the game with 496 career points, notched number 499 on an assist to Adrian Reyes. The sixth goal of the season by Reyes put the home team back in front yet again, 5-4 with 5:22 on the clock.
For the second time in the game, Tacoma had a quick answer to the Sockers’ goal. 26 seconds later, John blasted a shot from outside the yellow line to equalize the game at 5-5.
The Stars’ first lead of the game came off the foot of Chase Hanson, whose second goal of the season set the score at 6-5 headed to the fourth quarter.
After 14 minutes of play in the fourth quarter, and with the Sockers’ Drew Ruggles on as the sixth attacker, it was Perera’s 500th career point with five seconds left to go which proved to be the biggest play of regulation. His second goal of the game tied the game at 6-6 and forced overtime in front of 3,023 fans at Frontwave Arena.
Unfortunately for Tacoma, Perera wasn’t done and picked up his fifth point of the game on Mendez’s game-winner in overtime for San Diego.
The Stars are on the road for one more game when they battle the St. Louis Ambush at The Family Arena on Saturday, February 7 at 4:05 pm before returning home to host the Milwaukee Wave in their only regular-season appearance at the accesso ShoWare Center on Sunday, February 15 at 5:05 pm. Sockers on Sunday, January 28 at 5:05 pm. Tickets are available at https://tacomastars.showare.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=46 today!
SCORING SUMMARY
1st – TAC Jones-6 (John) 10:35; SD Perera-6 (Pardo) 11:20; SD De Oliveira-3 12:41. Penalties – None.
2nd – SD Ruggles-4 (Costa) 2:18; TAC Mendoza-7 (Caceres) 2:59; TAC John-7 (Romero) 14:08 . Penalties – TAC (bc- too many men) 5:56.
3rd – SD Mendez-7 (Perera) 5:25; TAC Correa-3 (John) 7:05; SD Reyes-6 (Perera) 9:38; TAC John-8 10:04; TAC Hanson-2 (Cox) 13:01. Penalties – None.
4th – SD Perera (Costa) 14:55. Penalties – TAC John (yc- dissent) 5:24; SD Ortega (bc- boarding) 5:46.
OT – SD Mendez-8 (Perera) 2:53 . Penalties – none.
Power Play – Stars 0/1, San Diego 0/1
Shots – Stars 21, San Diego 30
Fouls – Stars 19, San Diego 12
Attendance – 3,023
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