Blast clutch in playoff opener
Pereira, Roque team up for decisive goal
Blast veteran forward Juan Pereira had just done his part on Friday night, saving his best work for the latter stages of the fourth quarter in the team’s first Major Arena Soccer League playoff game in three years.
He sent a precise pass to the hottest player on the field, teammate Lucas Roque, who made a decisive run in front and buried the shot. For Roque, it was his fourth goal, coming with five minutes to play to give the Blast a 5-4 win over Mexico-based Chihuahua Savage in the first game of the quarterfinal-round series at Towson University’s SECU Arena.
Pereira, a native of Brazil whose mother died unexpectedly there a week ago, was caught in the moment, collapsing on the field where he delivered the game-winning pass. Soon after, his teammates were there to embrace him.
“Man, it’s hard because all the difficult time I’ve had losing my mom and still here playing,” he said. “I just saw Lucas free in front and was happy to pass to him and then the emotion came out. They all came and said ‘I love you. I love you,’ so I was just crying. That’s how we do everything.”
The Blast, who had their 2019-20 season cut short just before the playoffs and then missed out on last season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, finished this regular season with a 12-9 mark. It’s not the typical gaudy record they’ve enjoyed in the recent past. In the past 10 seasons, with much of its core players still intact, the team won four of the 40-year franchise’s 10 championships and was part of a string of seven straight title game appearances.
Along the way, the Blast have made memories by finding all kind of ways to win big games with a different hero at every turn. Friday was yet another to set up a chance to move on to the semifinal round with a win in Mexico on Monday in Game 2 and, if necessary, a deciding third mini-game that would follow.
After a two-week layoff and a sluggish start Friday — goalie William Vanzela (19
saves) kept the home team close with many of his stops coming in the first half — the Blast rallied from a 3-0 third-quarter deficit behind Roque.
The team’s leading goal scorer scored three goals in 2:13 to get the game tied.
With the Blast down again in the fourth quarter, defender Nelson Santana tied the game on a power-play goal with 6:06 to play.
Shortly after came the moment. Pereira making a run along the right wall, taking a look up to find Roque for his 30th goal of the season. The veteran players — Roque, Pereira, Vanzela, Tony Donatelli, Jonatas Melo, Adriano Dos Santos, Vini Dantas —
who have done most of the heavy lifting over the years will all say wearing the Blast jersey is different from other teams they’ve played on.
“It’s amazing — the culture of this team,” said Roque, who was quick to give credit for his scoring splurge to his teammates finding him Friday. “Indoors, this is the only team I’ve played for so I learned it here. It’s just different with all the good players we have that when times get tough, we just stick together and do whatever it takes to win.”
Shortly after securing the win, the Blast were huddled in a circle with coach David Bascome proclaiming “We walk as one!”
“We know we’re going to have struggles, but we also know that it’s one guy and another guy always right beside him,” said Bascome, the first-year coach and former longtime assistant. “We make decisions for the whole family and not just one.”