Blast open title defense with rout
Balanced effort helps home team handle expansion franchise from Ontario
The Blast and visiting Mississauga MetroStars played their expected roles in Saturday night’s Major Arena Soccer League season opener.
The home team mostly looked every bit like the three-time defending league champions, while the Ontario-based MetroStars showed more inexperience than fight in the franchise’s first game.
Aside from a brief stretch in the second quarter, the Blast were in charge, getting points from nine players and 13 saves from goalie William Vanzela in an 11-3 win before an announced sellout crowd of 3,811 at Towson University’s SECU Arena.
The Blast return to action this afternoon, traveling to New York to take on expansion Utica City FC with game time set for 2 p.m.
Jon Orlando (two goals, one assist), Daniel Peruzzi (two goals, one assist) Jonatas Melo (one goal, two assists) and Tony Donatelli (three assists) led the Blast offense with three points each, while Adriano Dos Santos and Vini Dantas each scored twice.
Minutes after unveiling their most recent championship banner, the Blast went to work to set the game’s tone.
Orlando and Dantas scored 31 seconds apart in the first three minutes and then they scored on a textbook power play a bit later — Donatelli finding Dos Santos on the right side for a tap-in and a 3-0 lead with 8:26 left in the first quarter.
Vanzela made sure the margin would hold going into the second quarter with six acrobatic saves, including three straight to frustrate MetroStars midfielder Luis Rocha.
The Blast poured it on in a third quarter that was highlighted by Melo, who made it 6-2 just 1:10 into play before climbing over the boards, hopping a couple rows and proposing to his girlfriend and new fiancee, Jen. A “yes” came with a hug and extended applause from the big crowd.
“In the first half, I hit two posts and I said, ‘Oh, my God.’ But I tried to keep calm and Video: