The Tacoma Stars (4-3) dropped its second straight road match on Sunday night at Unidad Deportiva Tijuana, a 9-4 decision against Atletico Baja (3-2).
Four players logged goals for the Stars offense: forward Dan Antoniuk, defender Troy Peterson, midfielder Jamael Cox and forward Joey Gjertsen. Defender Evan McNeley checked in with a pair of assists, while goalkeeper Danny Waltman posted 16 saves on 25 shots, giving him a total of 31 saves over the weekend.
Antoniuk ventured onto the scoreboard first, taking an assist from McNeley seven minutes into the match to give Tacoma a 1-0 lead. However, goals from Baja’s Juan Carlos Castor and Christian Gutierrez – scored three seconds apart from each other a few minutes later – gave Atletico a 2-1 lead.
A pair of goals from Jose Rodriguez and a second from Gutierrez represented the only scoring of the second quarter, pushing Baja’s lead out to 4-1 entering halftime.
The Stars opened the scoring in the third period when Peterson snuck a ball past the Baja keeper 33 seconds into the period, pulling Tacoma within one goal. Atletico would go on to score twice to close out the third quarter, and out-scored the Stars 3-1 in the final period to create the final margin of 9-4.
Tacoma out-shot Baja 26-25, but only found the back of the net four times. Both McNeley (12) and forward Alex Megson (10) recorded double-digit shot totals.
The Stars return to the ShoWare Center to kick off a stretch of five home contests on Saturday, Dec. 10, as they take on the Ontario Fury. First kick for the match is scheduled for 7:35 p.m.
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