Memphis Americans swept out by Strikers
The Tampa Bay Strikers completed a sweep of the Memphis Americans in a two-night series Friday night. The Strikers took the men’s game in dominating fashion, winning 9-3 over the Americans. The women’s game also went to Tampa Bay 5-3, thus the homestanding Strikers won all four games over Memphis, after the Amercans had done the same thing over Tampa Bay in Southaven March 25-26.
Friday in the men’s contest, Josh Valverde led the Tampa Bay offense with two goals and an assist, while Quayyum Murana added another pair of goals. Djordje Djordjevic assisted on two of the three goals for Memphis in the loss.
Tampa Bay roared out to a 4-0 lead before Giovanni Alvarado put Memphis on the board for the first time with just under two minutes left in the first half. Pablo Leigh then notched a goal for a 5-1 halftime advantage.
In the second half, Jonathan Boggus scored for the Americans and Jan Bergk got the final goal for the Americans with 3:46 remaining for the final score.
Goalkeeper Piotr Sliwa made eight saves on 17 shots on goal in the loss for Memphis.
The Americans women fell for the second straight night to Tampa Bay 5-3 as Tesa McKibben scored a pair of goals for the Strikers. Memphis answered with a goal and an assist by Louise McGirt.
Both of McKibben’s goals came in the first half to give the Strikers 2-0 lead early in the second quarter. But McGirt answered with 7:15 left in the half to get Memphis within 2-1 at halftime.
Tampa Bay got their offense going again in the third quarter for a 4-1 lead before Alexis Catt found the back of the net for the Americans’ second goal and Sydney Walker followed with another goal at the 10 minute mark of the final quarter to get the Americans within 4-3.
Andrea Hauksdottir finished off the scoring with a power play goal at the five minute mark remaining in the game for a 5-3 final score.
Tampa Bay outshot Memphis 30-15 in the game with Angel Hailey called on to make 20 saves on 25 shots in the loss.
With the result, the Americans women fell to 6-3-0 but remain in first place of the NISL standings. Tampa Bay improved to 5-6-0 overall.
Friday night’s games were the last regular season contests for the Americans on the road. Memphis has four home games remaining on the regular season schedule, starting with a weekend series April 15-16 at home against Central Florida. The Crusaders men are leading the NISL standings at 11-0-0, while the women are second to Memphis at 7-4-0.
