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.

The Kent-based Stars are 7-9. The Outlaws improve to 5-11.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Stars return to the ShoWare Center on Thursday, Feb. 27 to play the Florida Tropics for the first of two games. Game time is 7:35 p.m. For tickets, visit tacomastars.showare.com.

SUNDAY SCORING SUMMARY

First quarter – MES Eligwe (Cortes) 4:27. Penalties – none.

Second quarter – MES Ellis (Jones) 2:29; MES Oteze (Lovegrove) 10:22; MES David 12:17. Penalties – none.

Third quarter –MES Baladez (Lovegrove) 14:59. Penalties – none.

Fourth quarter –TAC Lima (Megson) 6:26; TAC West 10:09. Penalties – TAC McCluskey blue card (dangerous play) 14:02.

Attendance – 1,169

SATURDAY SCORING SUMMARY

First quarter – DAL Almendariz 8:56 PP; TAC Megson (Canale) 10:31. Penalties – TAC Caceres blue card (tripping) 7:45.

Second quarter – DAL Moojen (Hernandez) 0:22; TAC Ramos (Canale) 7:12. Penalties – none.

Third quarter – TAC Ramos 3:58; TAC Ramos (Antoniuk) 13:23 PP. Penalties – DAL De Andrade blue card (boarding) 12:28.

Fourth quarter – TAC Antoniuk (Ramos) 7:08 PP; DAL Piedra (Cavalcante) 13:31 PP; DAL Moojen (Luevano) 14:03. Penalties – DAL Bicmarck blue card (tripping) 4:36; TAC Johnson blue card (tripping) 13:24.