Toth's first Tacoma Stars season includes goalie of the week

The 12th professional indoor soccer season for 2007 Fallbrook High School graduate Chris Toth, and Toth's first season with the Tacoma Stars, ended March 28, when the San Diego Sockers eliminated the Stars in the first round of the Major Arena Soccer League playoffs.

"It definitely did end a lot earlier than expected. I thought we had a solid roster," Toth said.

The seven MASL teams who took the field for the 2020-2021 season had strong rosters in part because the other 10 MASL teams were unable to make arrangements to play due to the coronavirus shutdown. The Sockers and the Stars had no home games due to state prohibitions on fans.

"There weren't any home games in Tacoma, so that took a toll," Toth said.

Some games were played without fans in the home arena of the Ontario Fury, including games involving the Sockers and the Stars, although none of those took place until March.

"It was hard for any West Coast team," Toth said.

Toth was with the Sockers for nine seasons, including one on the Sockers' reserve team, and with the Fury for two seasons before signing with the Stars as a free agent in July 2020. The 2019-2020 season was terminated with three regular-season games left on the Fury's schedule, and the MASL playoffs for 2019-2020 were canceled. Toth noted that the hardships the Stars faced during the 2020-2021 season were preferable to not having a season at all.

"We were all happy to just be out there again playing," Toth said. "We were all grateful that there was a season."

The loss of ticket sales and arena concessions affected the teams without fans, and those teams also had additional travel expenses. The league utilized Facebook pay-per-view broadcasts for all games.

"The owners came together and made a season happen," Toth said.

Because teams did not play an equal number of games, the 2020-2021 standings were based on winning percentage. Initially each team was required to play a minimum of 12 games, but that number was reduced to 10. Tacoma had a regular-season record of 4-7, which placed the Stars sixth in the standings. The Sockers' 4-6 record gave them fifth place.

Teams often played two games in a three-day period and, on two occasions, four teams gathered in one arena and teams had three matches in four days. Danny Waltman was the Stars' primary goalkeeper for the previous five seasons, and the presence of both Toth and Waltman usually allowed one of the goalies some rest during the multiple-game trips.

"It was a fun time. I've always played against Danny, but to play with him was a great experience," Toth said. "It is a good goalie tandem."

A minor injury kept Waltman from playing in either game March 6 at Kansas City or March 7 at St. Louis.

"It was back-to-back travel pretty much right after the match against Kansas City," Toth said.

The game in Kansas City was a 6-5 Stars victory. The Stars had a 4-1 halftime advantage and took a 5-1 lead in the third period.

"We had them, too," Toth said. "We were playing really well, but Kansas City's a good offensive team."

One of the five goals Toth allowed against Kansas City was after the Comets went to a sixth attacker. Toth also allowed a power play goal when one of Tacoma's players was in the penalty box. Toth faced 17 shots and made 12 saves.

Toth also allowed five goals at St. Louis with Ambush scoring two of those on power plays. The second power play goal was in golden goal overtime and gave the Ambush a 5-4 victory.

"That was a game I thought probably was my best game of the season," Toth said.

Toth saved 19 of the 24 shots against him at St. Louis. That gave him 31 saves for the weekend.

"It was a really good performance, I thought," Toth said.

The MASL team of the week for Week 10 of the season included Toth as the goalkeeper. "If you play well and get rewarded, it's nice," he said.

Toth received the award despite the loss. "I would trade team of the week to go 2 and 0 any week," he said.

The Stars closed out their regular season March 14 against the Sockers in Toyota Arena.

"We had a day off in between," Toth said.

Toth defeated his original MASL team. "They were in the lead the whole game and we kept fighting back," he said.

The Sockers scored the first two goals before two Tacoma goals tied the game. The Sockers took a 3-2 lead before a Tacoma equalizer and scored for a 4-3 advantage. The Stars tied the game with 1:04 left in regulation and scored the golden goal 4:42 into overtime. "That was a crazy game," Toth said.

Including both playoff games against the Sockers, seven of the Stars' 13 games during the 2020-21 season were decided in the fifth period. "We had a couple of losses in overtime," Toth said.

The Stars were 3-2 in regular-season overtime games. "It was a weird year," Toth said.

The MASL playoff format for 2020-2021 gave the team with the best regular-season record, which would be the Florida Tropics, a first-round bye. The second-place and third place teams chose their first-round opponents which left the Sockers and Stars pitted against each other in the first round with the two games being played at Toyota Arena.

Both games were 6-5 Sockers wins in overtime. "I thought we deserved to win the first game and the second game, but the ball bounced a different way," Toth said.

The third period of the March 26 game concluded with a 4-2 Stars lead. The Sockers scored three goals in the fourth quarter for a 5-4 advantage. Waltman was removed for a sixth attacker, and Tacoma tied the game with 3:15 left in regulation. The Sockers' golden goal was scored 7:37 into the overtime period.

Toth was Tacoma's goalkeeper March 28. The Sockers led with six seconds left in regulation before the Stars scored a sixth attacker goal. The Sockers won the game with a goal 41 seconds into overtime.

"That was just the way the game goes," Toth said. "All of a sudden the ball bounces away and your season's over."

Toth faced 19 shots March 28 and saved 13 of them.

"We had high expectations and fell short. We're just looking forward to next season, a normal season now, where we have fans," Toth said.

Toth appeared in seven regular-season games for Tacoma during 2020-2021 and had a 3-2 record. He allowed 34 goals and had a goals against average of 5.28 per game. He saved 85 of the 119 shots taken against him for a .714 save percentage.

"I thank the Tacoma Stars for giving me the opportunity. I've got nothing but great things to say about their franchise," Toth said.

Before his next MASL season, Toth will play with the national beach soccer team beginning with the beach soccer World Cup qualifying tournament May 17 in Costa Rica.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].