The Harrisburg (Pa.) Heat held on for an 11-10 victory against the Tacoma Stars in MASL play in front 0f 2,414 fans at the accesso ShoWare Center on Friday night.
The Kent-based Stars dropped to 5-8 on the season.
After one quarter it did not look to be the close game it turned into as there were five first-quarter goals, and four belonged to Harrisburg (9-4). Patrick Thompson picked up the first of his three goals in the game less than a minute into the match followed by Tavoy Morgan who gave the Heat a 2-0 advantage with 9:09 left to go in the opening period.
The Stars’ first marker of the game came from Troy Peterson just nine seconds later to make it a 2-1 Heat lead.
With 8:11 remaining in the frame, Tacoma’s Vince McCluskey was shown a blue card for handling, and Dominic Francis buried a shoot out goal to extend the visitors’ lead to 3-1. Nelson Santana assisted on Thompson’s second of the night for Harrisburg to make it 4-1 after 15 minutes of play.
Each team notched back-to-back goals in the second quarter, beginning with Harrisburg as Ty Hall and Elton de Oliveira gave the Heat a 6-1 lead with 7:02 left in the half. Douglas Lima and Nick Perera scored for Tacoma less than two minutes apart to send the teams to the locker room with a 6-3 Heat lead.
The teams combined for 11 goals in the second half, starting with Mike Ramos for the Stars. Ramos, who was held off the scoresheet during the first half, finished with five points in the game, including a hat trick. Dylan Hundelt put Harrisburg back up by three at 7-4 with 11:48 to play in the third. Raphael Cox and Alex Megson scored back to back for the Stars to climb within 7-6 with 2:57 to go.
Hall notched his second of the game for Harrisburg and the Heat took an 8-6 lead into the final quarter.
Scoring started early in the fourth quarter with Ramos’ second of the night for the Stars just 38 seconds into the quarter. The next three goals were logged by the Heat, including de Oliveira’s second, Thompson’s third and a marker from William Eskay. Harrisburg led 11-7 with 4:40 left to play. Tacoma was not done.
With 2:58 on the clock, Raphael Cox scored as Tacoma’s sixth attacker to cut the deficit to three. Ramos completed his hat trick for the Stars on a Nick Perera assist and Tacoma was down by two with 1:41 remaining. It was Perera who drove home the final goal of the match with 45 seconds to go and Harrisburg was able to withstand pressure by the Stars to seal the 11-10 win.
The Stars conclude their homestand next Friday, Feb. 7 when they welcome the Turlock Cal Express to the ShoWare Center. Game time is 7:35 p.m.
Order tickets at tacomastars.showare.com.
SCORING SUMMARY
First quarter – HAR Thompson (Villela) 0:59; HAR Morgan 5:51; TAC Peterson 5:59; HAR Francis 6:49 Shoot Out; HAR Thompson (Santana) 8:34. Penalties – TAC McCluskey blue card (handling) 6:49.
Second quarter – HAR Hall 2:48; HAR De Oliveira (Villela) 7:58; TAC Lima (Antoniuk) 12:46; TAC Perera (Antoniuk) 14:23. Penalties – none.
Third quarter – TAC Ramos (Perera) 1:05; HAR Hundelt (Gibson) 3:02; TAC R. Cox 5:00; TAC Megson 12:03; HAR Hall (DiPrima) 13:58. Penalties – none.
Fourth quarter – TAC Ramos (Keitz) 0:38; HAR De Oliveira 0:47; HAR Thompson (DiPrima) 1:37; HAR Eskay (Villela) 10:20; TAC R. Cox (Ramos) 12:02; TAC Perera 14:15. Penalties – HAR Villela blue card (reckless tackle) 8:06; TAC Canale blue card (pushing) 8:06.
Attendance – 2,414
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