TACOMA, WA—The Tacoma Stars’ return to indoor soccer was a victorious one as the club topped Seattle Impact FC 7-4 on Saturday night at the Tacoma Soccer Center.

It was a match-up of a new Western Indoor Soccer League (WISL) amateur side in the Stars and the new Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) side in the Impact. The Stars’ players had plenty to prove. Some of them had tried out and not made the Impact. On the Seattle side of the ball stood a number of former Tacoma Stars. It was a pre-season “friendly,” with competitive undertones.

Duncan McCormick scored the first goal for “Stars 3.0” with six minutes gone in the first quarter. Tacoma added three more in the second quarter on goals from Cam Vickers (2-1), Joey Gjertsen (3-1) and Chris Raymond (4-1.)

The Stars led 4-1 at halftime but saw Seattle fight back to even the score 4-4 going into the fourth quarter. The Impact rallied on goals from Micah Wenzel (4-2), Vincent McCluskey (4-3) and Jamael Cox (4-4.)

Goals in the last period by Duncan McCormick (5-4) and Cam Vickers (6-4) gave Tacoma the edge before Stars goalkeeper Aaron Anderson took advantage of Seattle pressing to score a final blow (7-4).

“It was great to see the players that have been a part of the Tacoma contingent find a result against the professional indoor team here. Aaron Anderson (featured on TacomaStars.com) was phenomenal in goal tonight,” said Stars head coach Darren Sawatzky.

“The guys were organized and stuck to the game plan,’ Sawatzky says. “A couple quality pieces of play from players and some clever restarts from our technical consultant (Greg Howes) made the difference.”

Chris Coulter has a match gallery up on the Stars Facebook page. You can view it here.

The Stars were led by the two goals each of Duncan McCormick and Cam Vickers.

The Tacoma Soccer Center was noisy and alive with supporters, despite the storm sweeping through the area. In the end the local league club trumped the national league club and Tacomans claimed indoor soccer bragging rights on the night.

“We really enjoyed the night,” Stars General Manager John Crouch says. “We hosted many old friends and many people that are very excited about the Tacoma Stars and what it means to see them playing. We hosted Top Soccer kids and held a Lil Kickers kids event at half time to make it a very family friendly environment. We also had a packed bar with the beers flowing. It was a great evening with an electric atmosphere. There were a lot of long time friends on both sides of the ball that contributed to a great story and of course winning always helps!”

The Stars will participate in and host the Northwest Indoor Soccer Invitational starting at noon on Saturday November 1. They open WISL play at home November 15 against Bellingham United.

Seattle Impact FC host the San Diego Sockers in their MASL debut November 8 at the Showare Center in Kent, WA.

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