The Tacoma Stars (4-3) wrapped up a four-game road trip with an 8-4 Major Arena Soccer League loss to the Rio Grande Valley Barracudas at Hildago, Texas on Sunday.
The Stars split the four games to drop to 4-3 won the season. The Barracudas moved to 2-3.
Unlike the first three matches of the road trip, the Stars stuck first in this one as Michael Ramos scored his fourth goal of the season with 4:45 left in the opening quarter. The Barracudas evened the game 1-1 when Emmanuel Aguirre scored on a Yotsi Martinez assist with 3:13 remaining.
The third quarter belonged to Rio Grande Valley as it knocked in four unanswered goals, the first of which came off the foot of Diego Zuniga to put the Barracudas in front for good with just over two minutes played in the quarter. Carlos Hernandez, Gustavo Rosales, and Moises Gonzalez added goals for Rio Grande Valley in the third. The Barracudas led 5-1 going into the final quarter.
The Stars made it a close game, scoring three out of the next four goals, beginning with Nick Perera on an assist from Philip Lund with 13:46 left in the game.
With 10:28 remaining, Gonzalez scored his second goal of the night for Rio Grande Valley. Five seconds later, Zuniga was sent off on a blue card to bring the Stars power-play unit on the field. It took Pablo Da Silva, with an assist from Ramos, just 11 seconds to pick up the goal on the man advantage. The marker was Da Silva’s first as a Tacoma Star.
With the Stars trailing 6-3, Ramos banged in his second goal of the game to bring Tacoma within two with 7:54 to play.
Barracudas keeper Diego Angel Arriaga scored a goal from his own defensive zone at the 6:50 mark giving Rio Grande Valley a three-goal cushion. Mitchell Cardenas closed out scoring for the Barracudas with an empty-net goal with 1:06 on the clock.
The Stars return home Friday, Jan. 11 against the Monterrey Flash. Kickoff is 7:35 p.m.
For tickets, call 1-844-782-7784 or go to tacomastars.com.
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