STARS ROUT SIDEKICKS 8-3 SATURDAY NIGHT

by Pete Richmire/Stars

KENT, WA. – The Stars (1-1) wrapped up the 2021 portion of their 2021-22 schedule Saturday night with an 8-3 trouncing of the visiting Dallas Sidekicks (0-3) in front of 1,921 fans on Teddy Bear Toss Night at the accesso ShoWare Center. Six different Stars players netted goals in Tacoma’s first win of the season. Goalkeeper Danny Waltman stopped 23 of 26 shots for Tacoma in the victory.

Fans only had to wait a little over six minutes before tossing their stuffed animals onto the field. Vini Dantas connected with Mike Ramos to put the Stars up 1-0 and it began raining plush animals of every kind to benefit Toys-for-Tots and the Salvation Army.

Dallas tied the game 1-1 with 5:12 to go in the opening quarter when Bradlee Baladez found Erik Macias for his first goal of the season. It looked like the quarter would end even until Luiz Morales put the ball into the upper right corner with one second to go, giving the Sidekicks a 2-1 lead after 15 minutes of play.

Nick Perera picked up the first of his four points on the night on an assist to Raphael Cox, scoring in his season debut to tie the game 2-2 with 12:27 to play in the first half. Ramos then sent the ball past Dallas goalkeeper Juan Gamboa to give the Stars the lead again, 3-2, on the second of five straight goals for Tacoma.  

With Nago Mbengue serving a two-minute penalty for boarding, the Stars converted on their first power play opportunity of the game with a Perera to Dantas goal to stretch the lead to 4-2 with 8:48 remaining in the first half.

Tacoma was once again on the power play when Jamael Cox used an assist from Alex Caceres to put the Stars on top by a 5-2 score, which was the tally the teams took to the break.

With two assists to his credit already, Perera made it a 6-2 Tacoma lead with an unassisted goal with 6:55 left to play in the third quarter. After that, Mbengue sent home the final goal of the game for Dallas to bring the Sidekicks to within three with 2:31 on the clock.

Perera did not take long to respond as he used a Jamael Cox assist to make it a 7-3 Stars lead just 13 seconds later, and that was the score the teams headed to the final quarter with.

The lone goal of the fourth quarter came off the foot of Alessandro Canale, thanks to an assist by Dantas to run the score to 8-3. Tacoma’s defense would take it from there. Julio Varela donned the sixth attacker jersey for Dallas for most of the final 12 minutes but the Stars, backed by some incredible saves by Waltman kept the Sidekicks out of the net to seal the win.

SCORING SUMMARY

1st – TAC Ramos (Dantas) 6:11; DAL Macias (Baladez) 9:48; DAL Morales 14:59. Penalties – None.

2nd – TAC R. Cox (Perera) 2:33; TAC Ramos 4:30; TAC Dantas (Perera) 6:12 PP; TAC J. Cox (Caceres) 11:50 PP. Penalties – DAL Mbengue blue card (boarding) 5:43; DAL Gamboa blue card (GK handball outside the box) 10:16.

3rd – TAC Perera 8:05; DAL Mbengue (Piedra) 12:29.  Penalties – TAC Canale blue card (tripping) 4:30.

4th – TAC Canale (Dantas) 1:39.  Penalties – DAL blue card (too many men) 4:14.

Power Play – Tacoma- 2/3   Dallas- 0/1

Shots – Tacoma- 6-7-4-5- 22   Dallas- 3-3-6-14- 26

Attendance – 1,921

The Stars return to action in 2022 with a pair of games with the St. Louis Ambush on January 7 and 9 at the accesso ShoWare Center. Get your tickets now for two big games in one weekend. Go to www.tacomastars.com for ticket information.

2021-2022 SEASON TICKETS NOW ON SALE! Call 1-844-STARS-84 or email info@tacomastars.com to get set up with your tickets or get more information.

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