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Baltimore Blast

MASL Eastern Conference Championship Preview: Blast vs. Wave

March 17, 2017 - Major Arena Soccer League (MASL)
Baltimore Blast News Release


MASL Eastern Conference Championship

Baltimore Blast vs. Milwaukee Wave

Game 1: Saturday, March 18th @ Royal Farms Arena 7:05 p.m. EST

Game 2 (and potential mini game): Tuesday, March 21st @ UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena 7:35 p.m. EST

Setting the Tone:

Baltimore Blast: 14-6

First Place in the Eastern Division

First Round: The Blast dropped the opening game of the series in Baltimore but were able to come back on the road. After defeating the Heat in game two 7-4 the Blast were able to win the mini game 4-1 to advance.

Milwaukee Wave: 13-7

Second place in the Central Division

First Round: The Wave traveled to Kansas City and lost game one 7-6. Returning home the Wave were able to rally and defeat the Comets 7-5 in game two and pull out an overtime 3-2 victory in the mini game.

Blast Regular Season Leaders:

Points:

Tony Donatelli (42)

Vini Dantas (31)

Andrew Hoxie (23)

Assists:

Tony Donatelli (23)

Vini Dantas (11)

Jonatas Melo/ Pat Healey (8)

Goals:

Vini Dantas (20)

Tony Donatelli (19)

Andrew Hoxie (17)

Blocks:

Adriano Dos Santos (24)

Pat Healey (18)

Tony Donatelli/ Jonatas Melo (12)

Regular Season Series:

11/11/16 The Wave defeated the Blast in Baltimore 4-3

1/21/17 The Wave defeated the Blast 7-2 in Milwaukee

2/4/17 The Blast defeated the Wave 5-2 in Baltimore

Baltimore Players to Watch:

Vini Dantas leads the Blast in postseason points with 5 coming off 1 goal and 4 assists. Juan Periera has recorded 3 goals, Tony Donatelli has contributed 2 goals and an assist, and Lucas Roque and Pat Healey have recorded a goal and two assists each so far this postseason.

Tony Donatelli finished 3rd in the MASL in assists with 23 and leads the Blast with 42 points on the season. Vini Dantas leads the Blast in goals with 20 while last season's championship MVP, Lucas Roque, has recorded 13 points in 12 games this season. The Blast offense enters averaging 5.7 goals per game in the regular season.

Defensively, reigning MASL Defender of the Year Pat Healey leads a defense allowing an average of only 3.5 goals per game in the regular season. Adriano Dos Santos leads the Blast in blocks while William Vanzela has finished another season leading the MASL in goals allowed average. Vanzela ended the regular season allowing 3.34 goals per game which was his fourth consecutive season leading the league.

The Competition- Milwaukee Wave

The Wave are averaging 5.3 goals per game this postseason and Ian Bennett has led the way with 6 goals and 1 assists. Bennett finished the regular season 2nd in the MASL in points with 64 and second in the league in goals with 53. The Wave had 10 players record goals in the first round while Ian Bennett, Daniel Chamale, Daniel Mattos, and Max Ferdinand all recorded 4 points or more.

Max Ferdinand lead the MASL in assists during the regular season with 30 and has added 3 this postseason. Wave goalkeeper, Josh Lemos, finished the regular season with an 11-2 record and a 4.83 GAA. The Wave are coached by Giuliano Oliviero.

Check out the Baltimore Blast Statistics

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