Americans drop pair in Tampa Bay

Photo: Tampa Bay and Memphis players battle for the soccer ball during their recent series at the Landers Center. The teams met Thursday, April 6 and again tonight, April 7, in Tampa Bay. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)

The Tampa Bay Strikers pinned a pair of losses on the Memphis Americans in National Indoor Soccer League action Thursday night.  

The Americans’ men lost to the Strikers 9-7 in Tampa Bay behind Quayyum Murana’s four goals and another three goals from Pablo Leigh.  Jan Bergk of the Americans scored a goal and added an assist in the loss, which put the Americans at 5-3-0 for the season, while the Strikers improved to 3-7-0 with the victory.  

Thursday night, the Strikers had a 2-0 lead before Bergk got the Americans within a goal early in the second quarter. Giovanni Alvarado would tie the game at 2-2 for the Americans with 52 seconds left in the half, but Leigh scored with 10 seconds left before halftime to give Tampa Bay a 3-2 intermission lead.  

In the back-and-forth second half, Memphis scored twice on goals from Djordje Djordjevic and Ronald Akinsehinwa for a 4-3 lead, but Tampa Bay answered on a second goal from Leigh for a 4-4 tie. 

Again, the Americans responded with goals from Paulo Ndenzako, Djordjevic again, and Cordarius Williams to claim a 7-4 advantage with 1:06 left in the third quarter. 

But, it was all Tampa Bay from that point on, scoring the last five goals to rally for the win.  

Piotr Sliwa made 15 saves in goal on 23 shots for Memphis in the loss.  (Men’s Box Score)

The Memphis Americans women saw Tampa Bay score five straight goals after Memphis forged a 1-1 tie in the Strikers’ 6-1 victory Thursday night.  

Kate Hostage opened the scoring for the Strikers but Charlotte Koerner knotted the game at 1-all with nine minutes left in the opening quarter. 

From there it was all Tampa Bay, as the Strikers forged a 5-1 lead at halftime and added one more in the third quarter.  

Ishpreen Marwah scored two goals for Tampa Bay as the number one star, and Tesa Mckibben’s two assists gave her the number two star.  

Angel Hailey made 21 saves on 27 shots on goal for the Americans in the loss. 

Tampa Bay moved to 4-6-0 with the victory while the Americans dropped to 6-2-0 with the loss. (Women’s Box Score) 

The two teams meet again tonight, Friday, April 7 in Tampa Bay.