By Krystina Lucido

In a spectacular second-half rally Saturday night against the Philadelphia KiXX, the Blast grabbed their first victory of the season, a 19-8 win at home in front of 6,511 fans.

A first quarter categorized by a fairly mobile offense but near stagnant defense made Blast goalie Sagu work double. The KiXX took advantage of those opportunities and were tied 2-2 going into the second quarter, but after a second quarter burst; the Blast recovered and picked up some of the slack in the back end.

“At halftime we talked about things we needed to do to be better," said head coach Danny Kelly. "Defenders being a better option for Sagu, not sitting in the back and encouraging them to pressure us, forcing Sagu to be the playmaker.” 

The KiXX jump-started the second quarter at first when forward Anthony Maher kicked to center 33 seconds in to assist defender Ryan Heins with the goal and the 4-2 lead. But the Blast retaliated with a kick from Machel Millwood to a waiting Lucio Gonzaga who headed the ball for the tie and his first of three goals for the night.

Less than 30 seconds later, Sagu couldn’t hang onto a save which flipped over him and in for a KiXX lead, 6-4 but it would be the last goal he allowed in until the waning minutes of the fourth.

Mike Lookingland tied it up with nine minutes left on the clock on a shot that bounced down, up and in. His goal would be the first of 12 unanswered points for the Blast.

On a penalty kick with 5:21 left in the second, Millwood hit another bounce-off-the-post shot that gave the Blast their first lead. Gonzaga followed with a long drive down the field for a solid shot to center from the three-point line.

“Lucio’s goal was a huge goal for us,” Kelly said. “Lucio is a very good player and can change a game and he did that for us there.  … That goal sort of gave us a little breathing room, we calmed down a little bit and started to play a little bit better.”

After a scoreless third quarter, Gonzaga moved the Blast into the fourth scoring his third goal of the night with a drive to the left side. With the KiXX keeper Sanaldo at midfield, a long shot kicked by Billy Nelson sailed across the arena and into a wide open goal for another three points bringing the score to 16-6.

KiXX forward Adauto Neto scored less than a minute later, but Sanaldo stepped out again not a minute after that and the Blast took advantage. Another wide-open, Jonathan Greenfield shot gave the Blast a final three points and the win.

“It’s a good response from last week’s result,” said Blast midfielder and team captain Robbie Aristodemo. “The effort was obviously there. We were more tenacious on defense; took a little more pride on defense. And we had some players in the lineup that weren’t in the lineup last week that helped as far as veterans --Lucio, Jonathan, pushing Carlos back up in his regular position --that just gave us a little bit better balance.”

The Blast’s next home game is Dec. 18 when they will face the Philadelphia KiXX again.

Posted: November 21, 2009