The Tacoma Stars sent a flurry of fourth quarter shots at the Mesquite (Texas) Outlaws but were unable to overcome a five-goal deficit and finished the MASL match with a 5-2 loss Sunday at the Mesquite Arena.<\/p>\n
The Kent-based Stars are 7-9. The Outlaws improve to 5-11.<\/p>\n
On Saturday night, the Stars withstood a late surge by the Dallas Sidekicks (2-13) for a 5-4 victory at the Allen Event Center Saturday night. Mike Ramos continued his hot-streak with another four-point performance, including a hat-trick in the win for Tacoma.<\/p>\n
Against Mesquite, keeper Eduardo Cortes found VcMor Eligwe with an outlet pass to put the Outlaws up 1-0 with 10:33 left in the first.<\/p>\n
Mesquite tacked on three more in the second quarter beginning with Cody Ellis, who volleyed a Mike Jones pass to the right of Stars keeper Danny Waltman for a 2-0 lead with 12:31 to go in the first half. Josemaria Oteze converted on a Jamie Lovegrove assist to make it 3-0 with less than five minutes to go. The final goal of the first half was an end to end effort by the Outlaws Shaun David with 2:43 on the clock to give Mesquite a 4-0 advantage at the break.<\/p>\n
Just before time expired in the third quarter, Lovegrove connected with Bradlee Baladez who slid the ball past Waltman to give Mesquite a 5-0 lead heading to the final quarter.<\/p>\n
The Stars stopped Mesquite’s run when Alex Megson served Douglas Lima with an assist for Tacoma’s first goal with 8:34 left in the game. Adam West found a loose ball off a restart and buried it with his left foot into the back of the net with 4:51 to bring the Stars within three at 5-2. Tacoma applied pressure in the final quarter, outshooting Mesquite by an 18-3 margin but the Outlaws defense held, and they were able to snap their six game losing streak.<\/p>\n
Mesquite and Tacoma will meet for a pair of games at the accesso ShoWare Center on March 19 and 22 to close out the regular season.<\/p>\n