It wasn’t a perfect game for the Tacoma Star’s first appearance at the ShoWare Center, but after the Seattle Impact FC’s previous performances, there’s nowhere to go but up.
The San Diego Sockers, currently first in the Major Arena Soccer League’s Pacific Division, beat the Stars 8-3. The Stars took over official play for the Impact at the ShoWare Center last Friday night for the first of the final six games in the MASL. While they fight off competition in the major league, they’ll still have to finish out their remaining games with the Major Indoor Soccer League.
Visitors to the game said they felt the venue was appropriate and could see traveling from Tacoma to watch the Stars play.
“This is a better venue and I think we could pack this thing out,” said Nathan Crouch, brother of team manager John Crouch.
A 90-person poll revealed that 40 of the attendees came from Tacoma, another 35 were from the immediate Kent area and 15 traveled from as far as Everett or Bainbridge Island to see the Stars play.
“I think for a 48-hour turnaround, I think we did a fantastic job,” said owner Lane Smith of his recent purchase of the MASL team. “We were really pleased the number of fans came out.”
Smith was proud of the fight the Stars were able to put up against the Sockers.
“Scoreline wasn’t indicative of how competitive the game was,” said Smith. “There were lines an hour long [to see players], and thats the thing that allows you to build fan base.”
Smith was happy his team was able to compete to halftime.
“The San Diego Sockers are a perennial powerhouse,” Smith said “We played them 3-2 at halftime and they had to make some adjustments because of that.”
The Stars didn’t keep any players from the Seattle Impact. Those that former owner Dion Earl drew out from the Midwest will have a long ride home.
“We have a team, we have an organization, we have players,” Smith said, “and that is the organization that we are bringing to the MASL at the pro level.”
Smith said that the Stars’ existing organizational input has given the team “tremendous depth” which has helped them field two games in a 48-hour period.
Coach Darren Sawatzky said that he’s looking forward to seeing some of his talent continue on in the Stars, but has tapered expectations about an amateur team going pro so late in the season.
He’s making the best of a rough situation and will be more competitive next season after he has time to solidify his lineup.
“We have seven games left in the year to fix what somebody else grossly corrupted, so we’re doing our best to show people who and what we are,” Sawatzky said. “The reality of it is that when you play against teams that pay players, some of our guys are not quite ready for that level yet.”
He doesn’t have a lineup out of his existing players for next year, but will be looking to goalkeepers Aaron Anderson and Chris Kintz as well as Raphael Cox and Joe Gjertsen, who he describes as “clever.”
“I like clever players, players that use their brain to think about the game,” Sawatzky says.
Will the Stars return to Tacoma? Never say never, said Smith, but for now he’s content to play on Kent.
“[ShoWare] is ideal because the boards are the exactly the same, the seating is exactly the same,” Smith said. “Kent ShoWare is a regional destination. It can house those things that are from Seattle or Tacoma that don’t fit in the Tacoma Dome or CenturyLink. All you do is change out the goals and the turf.”
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