STARS COMPLETE TEXAS SWEEP WITH 8-5 WIN IN MESQUITE
MESQUITE, TX. – The Stars (8-7-1) topped the Mesquite Outlaws (10-5-2) by a convincing 8-5 final at Mesquite Arena Saturday to wrap up their two-games-in-two-days Texas trip and bringing home five points, moving them into the fifth playoff seed in the MASL Western Conference.
Like last night’s game in Dallas, the Stars got off to a multi-goal lead at 2-0. Just like last night’s game in Dallas, their opponent came back to level the game. All of this happened in the first quarter tonight.
Tacoma jumped in front with unassisted goals from Nick Perera and Cory Keitz to take a 2-0 lead with 6:30 left in the 1st. Axel Chakounte and Odaine Sinclair scored for the Outlaws just a couple of minutes apart and the teams were level as they headed to the 2nd frame.
Unlike last night’s game in Dallas, the Stars took the lead again on the next goal, a shootout goal from Perera, and never relinquished it for the remainder of the night. Perera finished the night with four points to bring his weekend total to 11 after his seven-point performance in Dallas.
To close out scoring in the first half, Perera connected with Alan Crespo, who had two goals on the night, for the one-timer marker with his left foot to make it a 4-2 Stars lead at the break.
Mesquite kept the game within reach most of the way through the 3rd quarter and had cut the Stars’ lead back to two at 5-3 with 1:19 left in the quarter.
Tacoma tacked on two quick goals by Crespo and Mike Ramos less than 30 seconds apart to give the Stars a 7-3 lead heading into the final 15 minutes of play.
The Outlaws outscored Tacoma 2-1 in the last quarter but were never really able to get the momentum needed to string enough goals together to pressure the Stars toward the end. Mesquite picked up one goal with their sixth attacker with 2:41 remaining but that was it for scoring in the game.
Tacoma heads to Mexico next weekend for games in Chihuahua on Friday and Monterrey on Sunday before returning home on Saturday, March 18 to host Mesquite for Retro/Alumni Night at 7:05 pm.
Tickets for that game are available at www.tacomastars.com/tickets.