Blast beat Utica City

Baltimore, MD (December 8, 2018) – The Baltimore Blast defeated Utica City 7-6 in their second meeting of the season.

Utica City got off to a fast start off a set piece goal at the 6 second mark from Mauricio Salles, his first of the season. The Blast would then respond with a penalty shootout goal from midfielder Tony Donatelli. From there, it became a defensive battle between the two sides until a Slavisa Ubiparipovic set piece goal broke the deadlock with 34 seconds left in the quarter. Ubiparipovic collected his third goal of the season to put Utica City up 2-1 at the break.

The Blast opened up the second quarter quickly with Andrew Hoxie’s 50^th career regular season goal. A tripping foul from Adriano Dos Santos led to Utica City defender Darren Toby scoring his 2^nd goal of the season to make it 3-2 Utica. Both teams’ defenses succeeded in stalling the other’s offense as shots came at a premium for both sides. The Blast would go into halftime trailing Utica City 3-2.

The Blast began the scoring after the break with a goal from Johnny Orlando’s 3^rd goal of the season. Utica City would grab the lead once again with a goal from defender Nate Bordeau, his 2^nd of the season. Josh Hughes tallied his first goal of the season from Tony Donatelli’s 4^th assist of the season to make it 4-4 late in the third quarter. The teams went into the third quarter break tied at 4-4.

Tony Donatelli would open the scoring midway through the fourth quarter with an assist from Marco Nascimento to give the Blast their first lead of the game. Seconds later, Liam Callahan would equalize for Utica City with his first goal of the season from Tavernese’s 2^nd assist of the night. Tony Donatelli would complete his hat-trick with a goal from Melo’s 4^th assist on the season to take the lead. With just under 5 minutes left in the quarter, Andrew Hoxie scored his 2^nd goal of the night to make it 7-5 Blast. Utica capitalized on a late goal with seconds to play, but The Blast would hold onto the 7-6 victory.

The Blast were led by Tony Donatelli, who recorded three goals and one assist in the Blast’s victory. Andrew Hoxie also contributed with two goals of his own, while Jon Orlando and Josh Hughes each recorded a goal. In goal, William Vanzela recorded 19 saves in the victory.

The Blast are back in action Friday, December 14 when they travel to Orlando to take on the Seawolves in their first ever matchup at 7:35 pm EST.

MASL Match Report
Match: Baltimore Blast vs. Utica City FC
Date: December 8, 2018
Venue: SECU Arena, Towson, MD
Kickoff: 6:00 p.m. EST
Attendance: 3,706

Scoring Summary:
Goals 1 2 3 4 F
Baltimore 1 1 2 3 7
Utica City 2 1 1 2 6