Germain with another Golden Goal

by Matt Warner

Germain with another Golden Goal


(TURLOCK, CA. February 24th, 2017)---  Friday night’s matchup between Turlock Express (8-11) and Atlético Baja (10-9) at Turlock Indoor was initiated by the visiting team. An intense 4th quarter allowed Turlock to get back in the game. Baja however pushed the match into Overtime in the last minutes. The man of the night was Matthew Germain who proved he could seal the deal with his second golden goal in 2 consecutive weeks allowing Turlock the 6-5 win. 


The Opening period was an even battle between los Gallos and The Express. Ball possession by the Tijuana team was witnessed in the first minutes of the game among the squad that traveled to Turlock. Express however had the upper hand at 8:25 with a goal by Veteran player Ivan Campos that put Turlock on the scoreboard. 


With less than 4minutes, Andrew Garcia found the equalizer for Tijuana to tie the game up before the end of 1st quarter. The only goal that was scored in the second quarter was by Manuel Cebreros giving Baja their first lead. 


Tijuana dominated the 3rd quarter with one goal by the Gallos leading scorer Christian Gutierrez who caught Goalkeeper Christopher Welch out of the box, followed by another goal by Timothy Liermann that extended their lead. Turlock trailing by 2 was able to get one in the net with a goal by Adrian Pulido. 


The Express not happy with the outcome of the 3rd quarter took matters into their hands by getting the majority of the possession in the 4th quarter. A total of 3 goals in favor of the Express were laid out in the final period. Matthew Germain, Alex Paz and Jose Barajas got Turlock back on the board with Barajas’ goal removing the tie.


 A total of 44 minutes were left to finish off the game and allow Turlock the win but at 3:22 Uziel Gonzalez found the equalizer that eventually pushed things into Overtime. This was the 3rd overtime match this season between both MASL teams with Baja taking the last 2. As 10 seconds remained in Overtime, the crowd began to prepare for the possible shoot outs that were soon to happen, but Matthew Germain was able to finish the game with the golden goal. 


The final game for the Turlock Express will be played at home next Friday, March 3rd against Pacific Rivals Ontario Fury. Tickets can be found at TurlockExpress.com. 


Make sure to follow The Express on all social platforms to stay connected with each week’s fortunes. Updates of the game and all Live stats can be found at www.maslsoccer.com, as well as a live broadcast at MASL TV in our Youtube channel.