Strykers Make History, Edge Out St. Louis 5-4 in OT

Men’s third straight win follows Empire women’s 4-2 loss to San Diego

Ontario, Calif. — The Empire Strykers made history and closed out their Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) regular season with a third consecutive victory on Sunday evening. The Southern Californians recorded their fourth 5-4 overtime win of the campaign — this time over the visiting St. Louis Ambush — while setting a new all-time franchise attendance record as well as an MASL-wide record for all of 2025-26, with 7,861 filling the stands at Toyota Arena. Empire forward Barbaro Shelier and Ambush defender Robert Williamson each earned a goal and an assist in the game.

Prior to Interim Head Coach Robert Palmer’s men edging out St. Louis, a Strykers women’s team fell 4-2 to a San Diego Sockers women’s team in leg two of an elite exhibition series. The Sockers women, who last week prevailed 5-1 in their home leg, hoisted the MASL SoCal Women’s Arena Cup.

Nearly two thirds of the way into the first quarter of the men’s match, Empire’s Steven Chávez found himself one on one with Paulo Nascimento. Texas native Chávez did well to beat the Ambush backstop, but only to see his attempted finish come off the inside of the left post. It would be the visitors finding the net at the other end, Mehrshad Ahmadi converting with power from the penalty spot. The golden chance had been brought on by an arm to the head of Ozzy Santana by Strykers captain and player-coach Palmer.

The home side leveled the match early in the second period, as Barbaro Shelier laid the ball off to Polo Hernandez, whose hard, first-time drive from the right found the bottom far-side corner for 1-1. However, the Ambush jumped back out on top less than three minutes from the break. On a sloppy turnover, backline anchor Williamson took control of the ball and drove into the opposition half before poking an unstoppable effort inside the left upright.

Empire again leveled the match very early in the third quarter, Jorge DeLeon making it 2-2 by blasting home the rebound after a deflected shot by Andy Reyes. The two sides remained tied until less than two minutes from the end of the period, at which point St. Louis star William Eskay put the visitors back in the lead through a piece of individual brilliance. Positioned on the right, the midfielder took a ball by Williamson down with his chest and volleyed it inside the far-side left post from a difficult angle.

The Strykers evened the score for a third time in the closing quarter. On a potential one on one, Abdul Mansaray was tripped up from behind by James Togbah, bringing about a shootout that was confidently converted by Justin Stinson for 3-3. The home crowd truly went into a frenzy when Barbaro Shelier gave Empire its first advantage of the encounter less than a minute later. Marco Fabián drove inside from the left and released a shot under pressure that seemed destined to miss wide right but was nodded home from the doorstep by his teammate, Shelier finally bagging his first goal for the Strykers since arriving from Utica in mid-February.

The drama kicked into high gear inside the final five minutes of regulation time, as the Ambush’s Christian Briggs made it 4-4 to set up the golden goal period. Having been picked out by Daniel Torrealba, the Trinidad and Tobago native received the ball with his back to the goal and took a touch toward the left, followed by a quick turn and a thunderous shot that beat netminder Brian Orozco to his right.

Overtime lasted a mere 76 seconds. Kudus Lawal found himself with the ball in the left corner and smashed a clever helper off the end boards by near post, centering perfectly for Dayerson Graterol, who had little trouble tapping home from close range. The winner, which yielded the day’s most boisterous celebration, sees Empire head into its quarterfinal matchup against Milwaukee with confidence and looking to extend its current win streak.

The Strykers host the Wave in leg one of their home-and-away series this coming Thursday, April 2, at 6:35 p.m. PT. Tickets will soon be made available here.