Gomez, Empire “Psyched” for Momentous Doubleheader

Strykers ‘keeper shares thoughts ahead of event with historic implications

 (Photo credit: Utica City FC)

Ontario, Calif. — Coming off the emotional high of having punched their Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) playoff ticket with a road victory at Utica City FC, the Empire Strykers host the St. Louis Ambush this weekend, looking to ride their momentum to a third straight win under new Interim Head Coach and team captain Robert “Berto” Palmer. The clash with the Ambush holds special meaning for the Strykers, given it will be part of a doubleheader that may well carry historic implications in a couple of different ways.

11-11-1 (wins-losses-overtime/shootout losses) Empire faces 12-5-5 St. Louis on Sunday, March 29, at 4:05 p.m. PT, with the match taking place after the 1 p.m PT second-leg clash between a Strykers women’s team and a San Diego Sockers women’s team, both of which may soon compete as professional sides in MASLW. In leg one of the “MASL SoCal Women’s Arena Cup,” San Diego this past weekend defeated Empire 5-1 in Oceanside.

Looking to assess the viability of adding a second professional squad to the organization, Empire’s front office is aiming high with the pair of upcoming matches at Toyota Arena, having set as its goal a crowd of over 8,000 and thus a new all-time franchise attendance record as well as a league-wide record for the season. Tickets for the momentous doubleheader in Ontario are available here.

The English-language live video broadcast of the men’s game will reach U.S. and international audiences via MASL+, the MASL’s YouTube channel, Creator Sports Network (CSN), Victory+, Unbeaten Network, National Soccer Network and SLVR, with several of the platforms making the action available on demand as well. Empire’s meeting with the Ambush will also be carried in English by FOX Sports Radio 1270AM. While the Spanish-language live video broadcast will air exclusively in Mexico via the FOX Sports lineup of channels, Spanish-speaking fans outside of Mexico may find it on the MASL's YouTube channel.

The English-language live video broadcast of the women’s game will be made available on MASL+, the MASL’s YouTube channel, Creator Sports Network (CSN) and Unbeaten Network. Fans may also watch the match on demand via several of the same platforms as well via APEX Sports. The Spanish-language video broadcast will air on the MASL’s YouTube Channel.

In their postseason-clinching match at Utica, which followed a 6-3 upset win at Milwaukee, the Strykers men downed last-place UCFC 5-3 thanks to a dominant collective display that saw them finish with a 20-7 advantage in shots on target. Forward Mounir Alami earned a goal and two assists in a contest which his team led 5-1 until the opposition fielded six attackers in the closing stages.

Under former Head Coach Onua Obasi, 30-year-old Brandon Gomez logged fewer minutes in net than the significantly younger Brian Orozco. However, since Robert Palmer was handed the reigns two weeks ago, Gomez has gone the distance in back-to-back matches, allowing a total of five goals and registering a strong combined save percentage of 73.9%. Against UCFC, the Southern California native bagged an assist deep inside the final period, throwing the ball into the path of a streaking Issak Somow, who buried it for Empire’s fifth.

“I was happy with it,” said Gomez of his own performance in the game. “I only had a few saves in that one, which speaks for the team. On their last goal, I got a little too casual and gave up the ball. Obviously, we’ve looked at that moment and talked about how we can fix it. Other than that, I felt pretty good. As a group, we were hungry and started off well. Their ‘keeper had several big saves in the first quarter. We could have been up by four or five instead of by one.”

The Strykers netminder added, “We could have had a lot of goals. When they weren't falling for us, we started forcing things a bit, and it got a little messy. We weren’t quite as a clinical as we would have liked. I still felt we played well overall, but we also know what we could have done better. It gave us some things to work on.”

For Empire, backline anchor — and now Interim Head Coach — Robert Palmer has once again been a key contributor on both defense and offense. The Jamaican not only ranks third league-wide in blocks (43) but also tops his side in assists (14). Second place in blocks on the Strykers is held by MASL rookie Filipe Dutra (21).

Like Palmer, backstop Brian Orozco has been a key figure beyond his core responsibilities. In addition to sitting third in the league in goals-against average (5.06 in 18 games/~806 mins), the 24-year-old Orozco has earned three netters and five assists for a remarkable 0.44 points per game. On average, he has recorded one point for roughly every 101 minutes spent on the field. Meanwhile, fellow ‘keeper Brandon Gomez boasts an even better goals-against average than Orozco (4.71 in 13 games/~421 mins), making him runner-up in the MASL.

Moroccan forward Mounir Alami not only leads the Empire roster in goals (26) and points per game (1.19 in 21 games) but also ranks second in points (25). First place in points is held by midfield engine Justin Stinson (26), who is also second in goals (14), helpers (12) and points per game (1.13 in 23 games). Alan Perez is tied for the league lead in short-handed goals (2), and his teammate Ant Powell is tied for eighth in power play goals (2).

In their upcoming home match, the Strykers will play as the “Empire Fury,” paying homage to their history. Prior to a 2022 name change, the club was known as the Ontario Fury. Against Sunday’s opponent, the St. Louis Ambush, Interim Head Coach Palmer’s men hold a 10-2 all-time record, which includes a 2-0 overtime/shootout record. Even though both teams were founded in 2013, they did not play each other until the 2019-20 MASL campaign.

Last season, Empire went 2-0 against the Missourians, defeating them 8-6 at home and 7-5 on the road. Both wins came in mid-January 2025. The Strykers trail 2-1 in the 2025-26 series. Having fallen 5-4 to the Ambush at home on December 19, the Californians suffered a 4-2 away loss in mid-January, followed by a 5-4 overtime win at St. Louis in early March.

Two former members of the Empire roster now lace up for St. Louis in Riley Urie and Randy Martinez. Both have been key contributors.

“That team has always had a few strong performers, but now they have more,” offered Strykers ‘keeper Gomez. “For example, Riley's having a really good year, and so is Randy. I also really respect Colin O’Keefe, who came over from the [Dallas] Sidekicks. He defends like a dog and goes on the counter right away. Once he takes off, it's hard to catch him. A couple of the guys they brought in are very dangerous in transition.”

Gomez continued, “They're a very athletic team with a system they’re all bought into. Every player has a specific role they all know and understand really well. Because they do such a good job of fulfilling their roles, they're very dangerous. They like to sit back, bait teams, and then kill them on the counter.”

At 40 years old, one-club man Paulo Nascimento is playing arguably his finest season yet for St. Louis. The Brazil native, who joined the Ambush in 2017 and has since guarded the net on 157 occasions, tops the league in goals-against average (4.53 in 20 games/~1.178 mins) and save percentage (73.4%) while sitting second in total saves (231). High-caliber backup Eduardo “Pollo” Cortes (4.76 goals-against average & 71.4% save percentage in 4 games/~177 mins) does not qualify for the MASL leaderboard because he has logged too few minutes.

The stingy Ambush backline is anchored by Robert Williamson, who ranks second in the league in blocks (44), with Christian Briggs (22) holding runner-up on his team.

The St. Louis attack is spearheaded by midfielder Daniel Torrealba. In addition to sitting tied for sixth league-wide in goals (21), the Venezuelan also leads the Ambush in points (32), assists (11) and points per game (1.45 in 22 games). Since joining from Utica, Mehrshad Ahmadi has served as Torrealba’s most important sidekick. When combining his stats from his time with UCFC and St. Louis this season, the second-year MASL forward holds runner-up on his new team in points (22) and netters (15), in addition to being third in points per game (1.16 in 19 games) behind Robert Kristo (1.29 in 7 games), who is listed as inactive.

Christian Briggs is second on St. Louis in helpers (9), and Randy Martinez ranks tied for eighth among all MASL players in power play goals (2).

After barely squeezing into the playoffs in 2024-25, the fifth-place Ambush has not only qualified comfortably this time around but retains a realistic shot at finishing atop the table. To do so, Head Coach Jeff Locker’s squad would need to stop a recent trend of narrow defeats, starting with Friday’s encounter with visiting Utica. St. Louis has won just once in its last five games and has dropped each of the other four by a 5-4 final score. Of the quartet of losses, two have come in overtime, including this past Sunday’s at San Diego. The nailbiter against the Sockers was preceded by a 7-4 away victory over Tacoma that helped open the door to Empire clinching its playoff berth.

Despite the Strykers being assured sixth place in the standings, they will give it their all in their season finale against the Ambush, according to Brandon Gomez.

“Training this week has been just as intense as it was the two weeks before that,” said the Empire goalkeeper. “With Berto [Palmer] coming in, he’s still working on implementing some of his ideas, so there’s room for growth. Against St. Louis, we want to continue the win streak, but we also need to keep building chemistry and a team that can go deep in the playoffs.”

Gomez continued, “If Berto wants to look at guys who haven't been in the rotation, I could see him making a couple of changes. But will we go with a — quote, unquote — less experienced or weaker team? I don't think so. He’s treating it as if we still need a win, and so are all of us. We want to even out the season series. With the women’s game and hopefully a big crowd, this is a huge occasion. We’re all psyched for it.”

Tickets for Sunday’s Empire Strykers doubleheader at Toyota Arena in Ontario are available here.