Strykers Look to “Keep Turning the Page” at St. Louis, Tacoma

Midfielder Chávez confident ahead of back-to-back road games

Ontario, Calif. — Entering the tail end of a seven-day stretch without any Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) fixtures, the Empire Strykers have had ample time to revel in their hugely important home win over the Tacoma Stars on January 8. When the Strykers embark on a pair of back-to-back away games this week, kicking of an intense run of four encounters in ten days, it will present an opportunity to truly move on from the recent frustrations brought on by five narrow losses in a row.

2-5-0 (wins-losses-overtime/shootout losses) Empire faces the 4-3-2 St. Louis Ambush on Friday and the 5-2-0 Tacoma Stars on Sunday, with both matches kicking off at 5:05 p.m. PST.

While the English live broadcast of the Ambush clash will air exclusively in the U.S. on CBS Sports Golazo Network, it will also be made available stateside and around the world — live, on demand, or both (depending on the platform and the location) — via MASL+, the MASL’s YouTube channel, Victory+, Unbeaten Network, Sportworld, APEX Sports and National Soccer Network.

The English live broadcast of the meeting with the Stars will reach U.S. and international audiences via MASL+, the MASL’s YouTube channel, Victory+, SLVR, Unbeaten Network, Sportworld, APEX Sports and National Soccer Network, with several platforms also making the action available on demand.

In Mexico, the live broadcasts of both matches will air exclusively in Spanish via the FOX Sports lineup of channels.

In their much-needed victory over Tacoma, Head Coach Onua Obasi’s men dominated the opposition courtesy of a determined, cohesive team performance and standout showings by several players.

While defender-midfielder Alan Perez grabbed most of the headlines with two goals and two assists, backline anchor Robert Palmer kept building his own assists total with another couple of helpers — in addition to making three blocks. Midfielders Ali Somow and Steven Chávez each earned two netters and one assist, and goalkeeper Brian Orozco finished the contest with 11 saves and a 78.6% save percentage.

The high-scoring win provided some welcome emotional relief after Empire had struggled offensively in the opening six game of its campaign.

“We tried to be more aggressive,” said Texas native Chávez. “We were speaking about it in training, about taking more shots and hitting it off the boards. We also wanted to be more creative and have those special moments from taking on defenders one on one. I think we had a couple of goals off the boards, so I’d say it worked out.”

The team’s offseason signing continued, “We knew the Tacoma players who we had to press and the ones where we had to back off a bit more. So, yeah, in terms of defending, it was all about pressing and being compact at the right times.”

The 29-year-old Chávez, who joined the Strykers after experiencing a breakout season with the Texas Outlaws in 2024-25, explained why it took him some time to put up a breakout game with Empire.

“It tends to happen to me when I come into a new team, that I’m a bit nervous at first and take a while to really feel confident,” he said. “I think I'm starting to feel more comfortable with the team now, and I’m getting closer to playing to the best of my abilities.”

The midfielder hopes to make it consecutive attacking fireworks when his side battles St. Louis to help ring in the weekend of MASL action.

The Strykers hold a 9-1 all-time record against the Ambush, which includes a 1-0 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 of this year.

The Strykers dropped the 2025-26 series opener 5-4 at home on December 19.

“In the first game, we had the majority of the possession and even outshot them by a lot,” remembered Chávez, who recorded an assist on the day. “We just have to minimize our mistakes in the back. They really punished us for those, so we have to be more careful and also put away our own chances. We missed way too many of those. I think the team is really starting to click, so hopefully we can keep improving against St. Louis.”

After barely squeezing into the playoffs in 2024-25, the Ambush has surprised pundits this season by posting a winning record though nine matches — despite a whopping six of those having come against their mighty rivals, the Kansas City Comets. Most recently, Head Coach Jeff Locker’s squad was involved in two shootouts, having twice ending up level at 6-6 through overtime. A famous January 4 win at Kansas City was followed by a loss at Tacoma one week later.

The St. Louis defense is led by former Empire man Randy Martinez and by Robert Williamson, who rank tied for sixth and for tenth league-wide in blocks, respectively (Martinez: 11 blocks; Williamson: 10 blocks). Meanwhile, the Ambush is backstopped by one of the sport’s most experienced goalkeepers in Brazilian Paulo Nascimento, who tops the MASL in total saves (118) and currently sits third in save percentage (70.7%).

On attack, Daniel Torrealba has stood out for St. Louis, with Jeff Michaud acting as a strong sidekick. Torrealba is tied for fifth in the league in goals (10) and for ninth in points (13), along with leading his team in points per game (1.44 in 9 games). Michaud shares first on the Ambush in assists with Lucas Almeida (5 each) and sits second in both points (9) and points per game (1.29 in 7 games). William Eskay is second in goals (6).

For the Strykers, backline anchor Robert Palmer has once again been a key contributor on both defense and offense. The Jamaican not only ranks third MASL-wide in blocks (21) but also tied for ninth in helpers (6), along with sitting runner-up on his side in points (7) and points per game (1.00 in 7 games). Second place in blocks on Empire is held by Alan Perez (5).

Like Palmer, netminder Brian Orozco has not only excelled at his core responsibilities. In addition to leading the league in goals-against average (3.79 in 7 games/348 mins) and ranking second in save percentage (75.3%), the 24-year-old has bagged a goal and two assists for an impressive points-per-game average of 0.43. Notably, Orozco will miss both of the upcoming matches with a hand injury.

Mounir Alami has been the Strykers’ most dangerous attacker. While the former Morocco U-19 international tops his team in points (8), goals (6) and points per game (1.14 in 7 games), Marco Fabián is runner-up in goals (6) and Steven Chávez in assists (4).

In Sunday’s clash with the Tacoma Stars, Head Coach Obasi’s squad, which the Englishman returned to the playoffs last season following a three-year drought, will face a side whose overall record could be viewed as overly flattering.

Of the Stars’ quintet of wins, one has come in a shootout and one by a two-goal margin, and three have come by one-goal margins. Meanwhile, both defeats have been blowouts — an 8-0 dismantling at San Diego and the 10-3 thumping at Empire — which could hint at a lack of resolve once opponents manage to build a decisive lead.

While the loss to the Strykers came in the Stars’ most recent outing, they take on Kansas City away from home this coming Friday, meaning Empire and Tacoma will be dealing with similar travel schedules in the lead-up to Sunday’s encounter. It will mark a sharp difference from the Strykers’ first game in Washington State of 2025-26, which saw the Southern Californians fly north the morning after their meeting with St. Louis and play the Stars that same night.

Battling their own fatigue in the December 20 fixture, the visitors came close to getting a result at accesso ShoWare Center but ended up losing the fiercely contested affair 3-2.

In looking ahead to part three of the season series, Empire’s Chávez said, “The Tacoma game will again be about minimizing our mistakes and about being more aggressive with taking shots when we can, so the game plan should be pretty similar to our home game against them. When we played them away, we were just passing back and forth too much, and we weren't being effective enough in the final third.”

With the Strykers and the Stars having faced each other for the first time as MASL founding members during the 2014-15 campaign, Empire trails 21-22 in the all-time head to head, which includes a 2-3 record in overtime/shootout decisions. The two sides have never met in the playoffs.

Last season, the Strykers took the series 4-1. After years of fierce battles over which team would make the elimination stages at the expense of the other, the four defeats went a long way toward Tacoma missing out in 2024-25.

Defensively, the Stars lean heavily on their backline anchor Logan Jones, who ranks tied for tenth in the MASL in blocks (10), with Nestor Hernandez and Chase Hanson (6 each) sharing runner-up on their side. First-year starting goalkeeper Luis Birrueta sits third league-wide in goals-again average (4.66 in 6 games).

With Tacoma having experienced similar attacking struggles as Empire, the highest offensive output has been provided by Jamael Cox, who tops the roster in points (8), goals (6) and points per game (1.14 in 7 games). While Mike Ramos is second in points (6) and points per game (0.86 in 7 games), Tyler John has the second-most goals (5), and Adrian Correa ranks first in assists (4), with Alex Caceres (3) trailing narrowly behind. Eddie Na sits second in the MASL in power play goals (2).

Looking ahead to the upcoming two-match road swing in its totality, Empire’s Chávez was confident his team has what it takes to add to the big home win over the Stars, which came five days after a gut-wrenching 4-3 defeat at San Diego.

“In most of the games, I feel like we had most of the possession and more shots,” said Chávez. “Now, we’ve made some adjustments to hopefully avoid some of the defensive mistakes and to capitalize on our chances. If we stick to those things and keep working hard, I think we’ll keep turning the page and getting these wins.”

Information on Strykers season tickets may be found here. Single-game tickets to all matches at Ontario’s Toyota Arena are available here.