STARS AND FURY GO TO SHOOT-OUT, STARS GET THE WIN

Ontario, CA - It took going to a shoot-out to get it done but the Tacoma Stars (3-5) snapped their three-game skid with an 8-7 win over the Ontario Fury (5-3-2) Sunday evening. Nick Perera, Vini Dantas, and Mike Ramos all scored, while Stars' keeper Danny Waltman stopped the Fury's Jesus Pacheco for the win. It was the second consecutive shoot-out loss for the Fury and the first overtime game of the season for Tacoma. 

The first half was evenly played with the Stars scoring twice in the first quarter and Ontario picking up a pair of goals in the second. Less than a minute into the game, Alex Megson netted his first goal of the season when he tucked the ball into the lower-right corner from inside the box to put Tacoma up 1-0 early. 

With 3:37 to go in the opening frame, Perera sent a pass off the board to Alessandro Canale who beat Fury keeper Claysson De Lima for a 2-0 Stars led after 15 minutes of play. 

Juan Topete opened the scoring for Ontario with an unassisted goal, his 7th goal of the season, to make it a 2-1 Tacoma lead with 7:59 to play in the first half. Just as it was looking like the Tacoma defense would hold the Fury to one first-half goal, Travis Pittman scored with only 13 seconds left to go. Franck Tayou assisted on the goal, the first of three assists on the night, and the teams went to the break tied 2-2. 

The Fury continued their scoring streak when Franck Tayou found Jorge Deleon to give Ontario their first lead of the night at 3-2. It didn't take long for the Fury to strike again.

After a blue card to Tacoma's Chase Hanson, Franck Tayou lined up for a shoot-out and beat Waltman to extend the Fury lead to 4-2. Ontario went from down 2-0 to a two-goal lead with 12:31 to play in the third quarter.

Tacoma put a stop to the Fury run when Ramos fired a rocket from just inside the yellow line to cut the Ontario lead to 4-3. 24 seconds later, the Stars got the equalizer when Perera slid a pass to Dantas on the left side off a restart. Dantas buried the ball in the back of the net with a deflection off De Lima to knot the game 4-4. 

Thiago Goncalves put the Fury back up at 5-4, then another late-quarter goal for Ontario made it a two-goal lead heading to the fourth quarter. It was Franck Tayou's second of the game, with 14 seconds left in the quarter which gave Ontario the edge at 6-4.

With the Fury serving a penalty for too many men, the Perera to Dantas connection struck again on a restart and it was a 6-5 Fury lead with 8:07 to play.

Franck Tayou's third assist of the night, this one on a goal by Ramone Palmer shifted momentum back to Ontario again as they took yet another two-goal lead, 7-5 with 6:41 on the clock.

The sixth-attacker was magic for the Stars tonight as with 2:29 left, Megson picked up his second of the night to make it a 7-6 Ontario lead.

Still down by one, with under a minute left to play, Perera had the ball at the yellow line and unleashed a shot that beat De Lima to tie the game 7-7. It was a Stars late-quarter goal, this one with 27 seconds left that forced the game to overtime. 

When neither team could score in the extra 10 minutes, the game headed to a shoot-out. Tacoma was a perfect 3-for-3 and following a goal by Goncalves for Ontario, Waltman came off his line to stop Jesus Pacheco's shot. Mike Ramos had an opportunity to win the game and he converted. 

The Stars are back in Southern California next weekend with games in San Diego on Sunday, and Ontario on Monday. They return to the accesso ShoWare Center on February 11 and 12 to battle the Sockers.