UTICA CITY SEASON ENDS WITH LOSS TO BALTIMORE

San Diego, CA - In the first round of the playoffs, Utica and Baltimore squared off in the Frontwave Arena. After a slow start, the Blast pulled away to a 3-2 lead before half and never looked back. Utica fell 6-2 in the final game of the season

The goals didn’t start to come until late into the first quarter. Both goalies were very active, with a combined eight total saves in the first period. The breakthrough came for the Blast with just 1:35 left in the first. Mike Deasel’s pass bounced off the boards and found Kevaughn Frater, who tapped in the cross to give Baltimore the one goal advantage. Neither team would change the score and Utica went into the second period trailing the Blast by just one goal.

The floodgates really opened in the second period for both teams. After being denied by Andrew Coughlin, Frater played the ball across to Patrick Thompson, who doubled the lead (with some help from Vini Dantas). The City wouldn’t roll over however. Following some high pressing, Mershad Ahmadi fired home a goal to cut the deficit in half. The equalizer would follow less than three minutes later with a tidy finish from Emmanual Belliard. With the clock winding down in the second period, it seemed as though both teams were content with going into half with the score knotted at two. Baltimore would then win a free-kick with just over ten seconds left, and Oumar Sylla gave the Blast a 3-2 lead going into the second half.

The second half was one way traffic. Baltimore got things going at the 10:35 mark in the third period. Bruno Henrique played a beautiful ball across to Victor Parrerias who tapped it in to make the score 4-2. The lead would soon become three. After a scrum in the box, Henrique showed some composure and willed the ball past Coughlin. Despite outshooting Baltimore 5-4 in the third period, Utica would find themselves on the receiving end of two goals. Baltimore went into the fourth period with a commanding 5-2 lead.

Much like the first quarter, the fourth was very slow and all about the two men between the sticks. The lone goal of the period came at the 10:03 mark. After a failed Utica attack, Baltimore countered through Juan Pereria, who played the ball across to Jontas Melo. The midfielder then showed some composure and gave the Blast another insurance goal. Despite multiple attacks, Utica was unable to provide an answer throughout the remainder of the game. As the final buzzer sounded, the scoreboard read 6-2 in favor of Baltimore.