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| Chris Fitzgibbons 4th goal of the season (photo by Jim Lindquist) |
Tuesday night at Tiger Stadium the shoe was on the other foot.
This time it was the Stars who built a 7-3 halftime cushion and then had to hold off a frenzied Tiger rally in an 8-7 victory.
"We had a few early questionable calls take us out of our game," Tiger coach Paul Sorensen said. "That and our defensive intensity just wasn't up to the level we have experienced so far this year.
"Our goals against-average through five games was 6.8 for a game and we let in seven by halftime. Our game is predicated on our defensive effort and we go as our defense goes."
Farmington pulled to within a goal in the final 1:26 of the fourth quarter but could not come up with the equalizer.
The Tigers lived up to Sorensen's effort to provide a balanced scoring attack as seven different players delivered a goal apiece: Mitch Hilton, Michael Thompson, Brendan Berg, Chris Fitzgibbons, Garrett Gunderson, Alex Schrafft and Dan Block.
Corey Rudrud and Jake Bauman didn't find the net but each contributed a pair of assists. Berg also added an assist or the Tigers.
Matt Heinzerling finished with 12 assists in a contest which saw the Tigers outshoot the Stars by a 22-20 count.
The loss left the Tigers with a a season mark of three wins and three losses with all of the defeats coming by a single goal.
"We have to have a short memory and look to the next game," Sorensen said. "Three losses, all by one goal, means we are not that far off. We need to stay out of the (penalty) box and we'll be fine."
The Tigers jump back into action Friday night with a road game at Hastings.
