STARS BACK IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FOR A PAIR OF GAMES

For the second weekend in a row, the Tacoma Stars (3-5) will be in southern California for a pair of games beginning with a tilt at Pechanga Arena San Diego with the Sockers (9-0-1) on Sunday evening. This will be the second appearance in San Diego this season for the Stars following a 9-3 loss last Friday. Cory Keitz had a pair of goals and Vini Dantas added the third for Tacoma in the losing effort.

Tacoma is 2-11 in the all-time MASL regular-season series with the Sockers on the road, and 4-21 overall. San Diego has won 10 of the last 11 meetings between the teams. The Sockers are led offensively by Tavoy Morgan and his 20 points (15G-5A). San Diego has several scoring threats and boasts seven players with double-digit production this season. Brandon Escoto (7G-11A), Leonardo De Oliveira (4G-11A), Juan Manuel Rojo (8G-6A), Kraig Chiles (7G-7A), Christian Gutierrez (10G-2A), and Charlie Gonzalez (6G-5A) round out the top scorers.

Boris Pardo brings a 6-0-1 record to the game with a 5.62 GAA and .688 sv%. While Pardo was serving a two-game suspension, rookie Xavier Snaer-Williams stepped in for SD and won a pair of games, and tallied a 2.97 GAA and .793 sv% while claiming the MASL Defensive Player of the Week honors. Tacoma’s number one keeper is Danny Waltman, though three keepers have seen action this season for the Stars. Waltman sits with a 3-5 record, 6.93 GAAm and .635 sv%. He was featured on this week’s episode of MASL Midweek with Michelle Gingras.

For Tacoma, Nick Perera sets the pace offensively and is among the league'S top scorers with 24 points (13G-11). Alessandro Canale (10G-8A) and Vini Dantas (6G-4A) are the other Stars roster members with 10+ points on the season.

The Stars and Sockers will see a lot of each other over the next week as after tonight, they will face off again at accesso ShoWare Center on February 10 and 11.