Week 11 had some top matches. Monterrey was on their first road trip, Chihuahua faced the Outlaws, the I-70 series returned, and hopes of the playoffs were on the line. First of 10 games kicked off on Thursday, February 1st.

Thursday, February 1st

San Diego Sockers 6-5 Texas Outlaws

The top teams in the Western Conference faced off in week 11. The tango starts with Sockers vs Outlaws. The game started with San Diego in control, and the first half would see Sockers score 2 goals in the first quarter and 3 goals in the second quarter. The second half would see Outlaws find some goals but the game would end in 6-5 for San Diego.

Friday, February 2nd

Baltimore Blast 7-5 Kansas City Comets

A huge win for Baltimore. This was the battle of 5th vs 4th and the Blast pulled off a huge performance. Kansas City opened the scoring but Baltimore would go on a 5-goal run and this proved to be a big enough lead to take the win. Baltimore would have a huge defensive effort and a massive performance from Mike Zierhoffer with 16 saves on the night.

St Louis Ambush 10-3 Harrisburg Heat

This was a much needed win for the St Louis Ambush. The game kicked off in a close race with the first quarter ending in a 2-2 tie. The second quarter would see Ambush take off with five unanswered goals. The Heat would answer in the third quarter before the Ambush would see out the game with three more goals. A huge night for newly-signed Raphael Arujo, who would get a hattrick. John Eskay also got 2 goals and 2 assists in the match.

Monterrey Flash 5-3 Tacoma Stars

The streak continues. Monterrey travels to Tacoma and takes the points. The first half would end in a 3-1 lead for the Flash. The second half would be much the same, ending in a 5-3 final score. The game would have Monterrey playing a bit more defensively and though Tacoma out-shot the Flash 28 to 16, the Flash protected their net.

Saturday, February 3rd

Milwaukee Wave 7-4 Harrisburg Heat

A game where Harrisburg would blow a strong lead but showed a glimpse of what could be. For almost three quarters the Heat would lead and play in a very strong fashion. However, five minutes before the fourth quarter, Milwaukee would go on the sixth attacker. For 20 minutes, the Wave battered the Heat’s defense and slowly chipped away at the lead and eventually got themselves a 3-goal advantage. This was a masterclass by head coach Giuliano Oliviero.

San Diego Sockers 10-3 Dallas Sidekicks

A typical story for San Diego. They came and won the game. Dallas fought and played a good game until the middle of the second quarter. From tied, San Diego would score 7 unanswered goals and take a 10-3 victory. Not much that could be done for the Sidekicks. Pass master Charlie Gonzalez would get himself 5 points, four of which were assists.

Chihuahua Savage 6-1 Texas Outlaws

This game had big points and meaning on the line. Many questioned how Chihuahua would play against the other teams in the West and like their game against San Diego, they showed why they are still the Champions of the West. Chihuahua had a defensive showing against the Outlaws, who are one of the scariest offensive teams in the league, holding the Texas side to 16 shots. Diego Reynoso would only let one goal in and make 8 saves. From beginning to end, the Savage were in control, taking 33 shots on goal. Just an overall outstanding performance.

Sunday, February 4th

St Louis Ambush 6-5 Kansas City Comets

Personally, this was the most entertaining game of the weekend. Kansas City would have the better first half and St Louis would have a push in the second half. The Ambush would tie it in the last three minutes to send it to overtime. They even had a power play goal at the end of the fourth quarter, which carried into overtime, which ultimately won them the game with a goal from James Thomas and an assist from Lucas Almeida. The I-70 series is becoming one of my favorite series to watch!

Utica City FC 8-5 Baltimore Blast

Just as the Baltimore Blast found hope, slowly they are letting it go. Utica started on the front foot, scoring first and from the first to the fourth quarter this was a good game. Utica kept the game just out of Baltimore’s reach and the nail in the coffin were two goals against the sixth attacker. Nilton de Andrade had one of his best games, scoring 5 goals and getting 1 assist.

Monterrey Flash 8-4 Empire Strykers

Monterrey cannot lose. This one of the rare moments where they were is a vulnerable place, having traveled to Tacoma with a light squad, but the Empire were not up to the task. The Flash would get the lead under three minutes into the first quarter and that was all she wrote. Scoring 8 goals from different players, this is just a machine with one goal in mind: the Ron Newman Cup. For Empire, Justin Stinson and Marco Fabain kept in form and both got 2 goals on the night.

- Geo Monterroso

While Geo is a contributing writer for Protagonist Soccer, he’s also the founder and host of the Goals N Boards podcast. It’s the best podcast strictly devoted to MASL.