Baltimore Blast Get Past Silver Knights, Lancers

By Nicholas Murray, MISL

Mike Lookingland and Adauto Neto each had a goal and an assist as the Baltimore Blast took a 10-5 victory against the Syracuse Silver Knights on Friday night in front of 4,030 fans at Baltimore Arena. The victory allowed the Blast to maintain second place in the MISL standings and earned some revenge for their defeat in Syracuse the previous weekend.

Lookingland had the only goal of the opening quarter, but former Blast player Machel Millwood tied the game for Syracuse just less than five minutes into the second. Baltimore regained the lead as Lucio Gonzaga fired home from Neto’s pass. 

Syracuse grabbed its only lead of the game with 18 seconds to play in the half as Kenardo Forbes drove home a finish from 3-point range on a power-play opportunity, and it appeared the Silver Knights would hold the halftime edge.
The Blast took the lead back with one second remaining on the clock, however, as Tony Donatelli put home a pass by Lookingland to make it 6-5. The game remained tight throughout much of the second half but the Silver Knights were unable to find a way through a Blast defense which blocked 11 shots, or William Vanzela, who finished the game with 11 saves.

Neto added to Baltimore’s lead late in the third quarter off a restart, and Adriano Dos Santos added an insurance goal late in the fourth to wrap up the win, Baltimore’s ninth of the season. 

Friday, Jan. 24 

Rochester 24, Pennsylvania 8: The Rochester Lancers got a four-goal night from Mauricio Salles as they took victory against the Pennsylvania Roar at Santander Arena. The Roar took the lead as Tyrone Hall opened the scoring midway through the first quarter, but back-to-back goals by Luis Enrique and Stephen Basso put the Lancers on top 4-2. Pennsylvania tied the game before the end of the quarter through Max Touloute, but Salles took over as he scored a second-quarter hat trick to lead the Lancers to a 15-6 lead at the break.

Salles bagged his fourth goal of the game from 3-point range early in the third quarter as he finished the contest with a 10-point night, while Enrique also added a second and Elliot Fauske scored twice in the second half. Missouri 26, St. Louis 2: The Missouri Comets got hat tricks from Brian Harris and Stefan St. Louis, while Leo Gibson had four assists, as they took victory against the St. Louis Ambush in front of 4,748 fans at the Independence Events Center. 

The Ambush got out to an early lead as Kory Dowell scored 1:20 into the contest, but goals by Harris and St. Louis put the Comets on top by the end of the first quarter, and Missouri never looked back. Gibson and Vahid Assadpour added second-quarter goals to make it 8-2 at the break, and the Comets pulled away as the Ambush pushed forward to try and get back into the game in the second half. Both Harris and St. Louis completed their hat tricks as the Comets scored nine goals in the second half. 

Saturday, Jan. 25 

Syracuse 24, Pennsylvania 13: The Syracuse Silver Knights bounced back from their defeat on Friday night as Nelson Santana had a six-point night to lead his side past the Pennsylvania Roar at The Oncenter War Memorial. Nate Bourdea gave Syracuse an early lead, but the Roar answered as Max Touloute tied the game midway through the period.

Vittorio Petreta restored Syracuse’s lead before the end of the quarter, only for Jordan Thomas’ two second-quarter goals to give the Roar a 6-4 halftime lead. Syracuse got back on even terms through Kenardo Forbes just more than a minute into the second half, but just as quickly Pennsylvania regained the lead through Kingsley Onwuka’s second goal since his recent arrival at the club. 

Santana gave Syracuse back the lead with a blast from 3-point range to make it 9-8, however, and Slavisa Ubiparipovic and Darren Toby both added goals to make it 13-8 with just more than five minutes to play in the third.

The Roar would not go away, though, as Touloute pulled his side within two with a 3-pointer late in the period, and Thomas tied things up again with his third of the night just more than five minutes in the fourth. 

The Silver Knights wrested control back soon after as Machel Millwood and Toby scored 1:21 apart to make it 17-13, and Bourdeau and Santana then added their second of the game to make it an eight-point game before Neto’s late 3-pointer into an empty net sealed the victory. 

Milwaukee 21, St. Louis 9: Ian Bennett and Marcio Leite each had hat tricks as the Milwaukee Wave overcame an early deficit to take victory against the St. Louis Ambush in front of 5,206 at U.S. Cellular Arena. 

The Ambush came out strongly, as Richard Schmermund struck from 3-point range before Chad Vandegriffe added a second goal to make it 5-0 at the end of the first quarter.

The Wave quickly tied the game early in the second, however, as Luan Oliveira scored a 3-pointer 27 seconds in before Philip Surprise notched his first goal in the MISL to make it 5-5. The Wave added three more goals as Bennett scored twice around a finish by Marcelo Fontana, but the Ambush were able to pull within four at the break as Dan Antoniuk scored with 47 seconds to go in the half.

The difference remained at four points at the end of the third quarter as Bennett completed his hat trick before Kyle Hopson responded for St. Louis, but the Wave pulled away in the fourth quarter as Leite scored a natural hat trick before Hewerton capped the scoring. 

Baltimore 17, Rochester 2: Ten different players found their names on the score sheet as the Baltimore Blast took a comfortable victory against the Rochester Lancers in front of 6,986 at Baltimore Arena. 

The game opened tightly, but the Blast were able to grab the lead in the final five minutes of the first quarter as Lucas Roque and Adriano Dos Santos scored 59 seconds apart for a 4-0 lead. Marco Mangione then scored the only goal of the second before another quick pair of goals in the third by Tony Donatelli and Mike Deasel made it 10-0. 

Rochester broke the Blast’s shutout bid as Stephen Basso found the back of the net, but it was the Lancers’ only goal of the game as William Vanzela had 12 saves and the Blast blocked eight shots. Adauto Neto scored twice, while Dos Santos added a second, to give Baltimore a comfortable win.

Results

Friday, Jan. 24
Rochester 24, Pennsylvania 8
Baltimore 10, Syracuse 5
Missouri 26, St. Louis 2 

Saturday, Jan. 25
Milwaukee 21, St. Louis 9
Syracuse 24, Pennsylvania 13
Baltimore 17, Rochester 2 

Schedule

Friday, Jan. 31
Baltimore at Syracuse, 7:30 p.m. ET 

Saturday, Feb. 1
Milwaukee at St. Louis, 2:35 p.m. ET

The Baltimore Blast is owned by Edgemere native Ed Hale. the team has corporate headquarters in Edgemere and practices at a public recreation center in Parkville. The team plays its home games at the Baltimore Arena.