March 28, 2024 – Major Arena Soccer League (MASL)
Empire Strykers News Release
Ontario, Calif. – It’s a week of intense focus for the Empire Strykers. Eliminated from Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) playoff contention after a radical roster rebuild, Head Coach Paul Wright’s men look ahead to their season finale determined to leave Strykers fans with a sense of optimism for the 2024-25 campaign. This weekend’s Fan Appreciation Game sees 3-19-1 (wins-losses-overtime/shootout losses) Empire welcome the red-hot Tacoma Stars to Ontario’s Toyota Arena, with tickets priced at just $5 and available for purchase here.
The Strykers and the Stars will clash on Sunday, March 31, at 4:05 p.m. PT. All the action will be streamed live in English on Twitch and will be accessible via the platform’s app and website. A complete channel guide for upcoming MASL games is here.
In 14-6-2 Tacoma, Empire faces a familiar foe, as the Southern Californians took on the Washingtonians in their most recent game last weekend, falling 5-10 in the second of consecutive away encounters. Dealing with little rest and a grueling travel schedule, the Strykers had dropped the first road match 1-10 to defending champion Chihuahua Savage.
Against the Stars, attacking engine Marco Fabian and company suffered defeat in part due to a subpar second quarter, in which they were outscored 1-4. In the game’s opening period, Fabián and teammate Alan Perez had each enjoyed impressive attacking shifts, the former bagging a hat-trick and the latter assisting on all three tallies. Perez would later add a goal of his own. Empire was bested on the day by a comprehensive opposition performance that saw Nick Perera and Michael Ramos collect three points each while ex-Strykers ace Chris Toth recorded a .750 save percentage between the sticks.
“It was such a close game in the first quarter,” recapped midfielder Perez, “but then Tacoma adjusted their tactics and style, which allowed them to break us down and catch some of our players in bad spots on the field. Their experience is a huge advantage. They know we’re far less experienced, and they capitalized on every chance they got. It got to a point where it was simply too late for us to adjust our own game and try to get back into it.”
The 24-year-old is enjoying a breakout campaign in the MASL, his points-per-game average of 1.0 ranking far above the 0.3 and 0.1 points he averaged in 2021-22 and 2022-23, respectively. Perez’s four-point showing against the Stars…