The Tacoma Stars took an early 4-0 lead against the the San Diego Sockers but couldn’t hold on and dropped an 8-7 Major Arena Soccer League match in front of 4,179 fans at the accesso ShoWare Center on Sunday, Fan Appreciation Night.
The Kent-based Stars fall to 10-11 on the season. The Pacific Division-leading Sockers are 20-1.
The Stars came out firing to take a three-goal lead in the first quarter, beginning with Philip Lund converting on a Nick Perera assist with 10:16 left in the period. Vince McCluskey picked up an unassisted marker with 6:44 remaining, and it was Perera’s turn to knock one in after that. Joey Gjertsen found Perera for the score with 2:16 to go in the first. It was Gjertsen’s final regular-season home game for the Stars. He will retire following the season.
Tacoma went up 4-0 on Raphael Cox’s power-play goal with 10:50 left in the opening half.
San Diego got on the board when Christian Gutierrez found Kraig Chiles for a goal with 8:36 on the clock. Luis Ortega and Brandon Escoto scored for the Sockers 16 seconds apart, and the Stars lead was just one with 1:04 left in the second quarter. San Diego tied the match with six seconds remaining.
There were only two goals scored in the third quarter – both by San Diego’s Leonardo De Oliveira to give the Sockers a 6-4 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Ramos opened the period scoring on a Perera assist with 9:24 remaining.
Landon Donovan found his way on the scoresheet for San Diego with an unassisted goal less than a minute later.
It was Ramos again, this time from Peterson, for Tacoma to make it 7-6 San Diego with 6:08 to play.
A power play goal from Chiles gave San Diego a two-goal cushion with 3:16 left to go.
The final goal of the game cam from Perera for Tacoma with 47.9 seconds showing, but the Stars could not get another to tie up the game.
The Stars finish the regular season on the road. Tacoma is in Dallas on Saturday for a 5 p.m. match and visits Monterrey, Calif., on Sunday for a 4:05 p.m. game. Both matches are on MASL.tv.
Follow the team at tacomastars.com.
Scoring summary
First quarter – TAC Lund (Perera) 4:43; TAC McCluskey 8:16; TAC Perera (Gjertsen) 12:44; Penalties – none.
Second quarter – TAC Cox (Ramos) 4:10 PP; SD Chiles (Gutierrez) 6:24; SD Ortega 13:46; SD Escoto 13:57; SD Farber (Roberto) 14:54; Penalties – SD Bond blue card (pushing) 2:32; SD Farber yellow card (dissent) 2:38; SD Contreras blue card (obstruction) 6:58.
Third quarter – SD De Oliveira (Escoto) 5:05; SD De Oliveira 5:31; Penalties – none.
Fourth quarter – TAC Ramos (Perera) 5:37; SD Donovan 6:10; TAC Ramos (Peterson) 8:54; SD Chiles (Escoto) 11:45 PP; TAC Perera (Ramos) 14:12; Penalties – .
Shots – Tacoma 5-3-0-7 (15), San Diego 10-6-2-9 (27)
Attendance – 4,179
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