Kapinos sparkles in Baltimore debut as Blast beat Heat, 12-5

On Friday night, goalkeeper Joey Kapinos was sitting at home in Massachusetts when his phone rang.

One night later, the 28-year-old six-year veteran was starting for his fifth team, the two-time defending Major Arena Soccer League champion Blast.

With star goalkeeper William Vanzela injured in Friday’s win over the Kansas City Comets, the Blast turned to Kapinos and continued to do what they do — win.

Kapinos, who played with the Ontario Fury last season, made 12 saves and the Blast went 4-for-4 on the power play to claim a 12-5 win over the Harrisburg Heat before an announced crowd of 3,554 at SECU Arena.

The Blast improved to 12-2 on the season, increasing their Eastern Division lead to five games. With seven saves coming in the first quarter, Kapinos didn’t have much choice but to settle in quickly.

“I was a little nervous at the very beginning, but as soon as I got that first ball in my hands I knew it was just another game and I knew the guys were there to support me,” he said. “They’ve been great to me already and I’m excited for what’s to come.”

Adriano Dos Santos finished with two goals and two assists to lead the Blast’s balanced attack while Vini Dantas and Juan Pereira each added two goals and an assist. The Heat are now 5-10 in the division’s basement. Blast Hall of Famer Denison Cabral, who has been head coach for the Heat the past two seasons, returned to the field for the visitors and had an assist in his third game back playing.

After Vanzela went down with a groin injury in the second quarter Friday — he’s scheduled for an MRI on Monday to determine the extent of the injury — Blast general manager Kevin Healey reached out to Kapinos and the netminder said he was good to go. After filling out the needed paperwork and getting directions to SECU Arena, he arrived in Baltimore at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, passed his physical at 3:30 and then was busy making saves for the home team. Harrisburg Blast 1 2 First quarter Scoring: 1. Blast, Dos Santos, (Hoxie), 1:00; 2. Blast, Pereira, (Kapinos), 4:42; 3. Harrisburg, Carvalho, (Cabral), 7:57. Second quarter Scoring: 4. Harrisburg, Freitas, (Teixeira), 4:51; 5. Blast, Healey, (Pereira), 6:04; 6. Blast, Dos Santos, (Donatelli), 10:19; 7. Blast, Santana, (Healey), 12:34; 8. Harrisburg, Neto, (Mellor), 14:19. Third quarter Scoring: 9. Harrisburg, Mellor, 1:17; 10. Harrisburg, Carvalho, (Freitas), 2:59; 11. Blast, Dantas, (Dos Santos), 5:51; 12. Blast, Donatelli, (Dantas), 8:40; 13. Blast, Dantas, (Donatelli), 10:08; 14. Blast, Raley, 12:47; 15. Blast, Pereira, 13:20 15. Blast, Hoxie, 14:59. Fourth quarter Scoring: 16. Blast, Greensfelder, (Dos Santos), 4:47; 17.