Tacoma Stars nip Mexico Toros in home finale

TACOMA, Wash.— The Tacoma Stars came from behind to beat the Mexico Toros in PASL action on Saturday night February 2 at the Pacific Sports Center. The win guaranteed the Stars at least a .500 record for the season, and five more wins than the previous year.

Wilson Tsoi was at the match and shares the photos here along with an entire gallery at Facebook.com/goalWA.

Mark Lee (right) was the offensive star with two goals and two assists as Tacoma edged Mexico on Saturday night. (Wilson Tsoi)

The Toros led the contest 2:1 after the first quarter. The visitors got on the scoreboard after only 47 seconds on a strike from Guillermo Rodriguez. Tacoma’s leading scorer on the night, Mark Lee (2 goals), scored hist first to keep the Stars within striking distance. The only goal of the second quarter was provided on an assist from Lee to Amos Freiheit.

Lee also began the Stars’ big comeback. Tacoma trailed 4:2 in the third quarter when Mark neatly created an unassisted goal to cut the Toros lead to one.

The biggest crowd of the year (announced at 600) helped the Stars say goodbye to the PASL home season. (Wilson Tsoi)

In the final quarter the Stars kept the momentum going and overtook Mexico with three more goals. Danny Wenzel, Kris Bowers and Jeff Bader notched goals to put the Stars up for good, 6:4. A late Toros marker wasn’t enough to catch the Stars, who got some revenge for an earlier blowout loss in Mexico.

Tacoma’s slim playoff hopes remain alive. The Stars are tied with the Turlock Express, both sporting 8:7 records with one match to go. However the Express hold the tiebreaker over the Stars due to a better head-to-head goal differential. Turlock plays at rival Sacramento on Saturday February 9. A win would clinch a spot for the Express and make Tacoma’s scheduled visit to Sacramento on February 16 meaningless. However, if the lowly Surge can upset the Express, then the Stars would have an opening to make a 9-7 season turn into a playoff one. The Surge are 1-13 on the season and have already lost to the Express three times, though the matches have been close.