Blast win 2007-08 MISL championship
April 26, 2008 - Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2) News Release
MILWAUKEE (April 26, 2008) - Denison Cabral scored a hat trick and Carlos Garcia scored two goals on Saturday as the Baltimore Blast won their fourth Major Indoor Soccer League Championship, defeating La Raza de Monterrey 14-11 at the U.S. Cellular Arena.
The Blast captured championships in 2003, 2004 and 2006, and won five consecutive games in the 2008 postseason to lift the hardware again. Cabral, who concluded the playoffs with 21 points, was named the championship game MVP.
Baltimore turned the game in its favor with two goals 12 seconds apart in the third quarter. Garcia scored his second with 7:50 remaining, and then Cabral finished a feed from Lucio Gonzaga at the back post after Neto forced a turnover soon after Monterrey's kickoff to make it 12-8.
Blast coach Danny Kelly challenged his team at halftime, especially on the defensive end.
"Our whole thing is, we defend with all five guys," Kelly said. "We didn't do that in the first half."
Cabral said: "He said we cannot afford to go out and play the same way in the second half."
Monterrey, in its first season in the MISL, got two goals and an assist from Byron Alvarez and some spectacular stops from rookie Jose Bontti that kept his team alive. LaRaza had eliminated Chicago and Detroit, both on golden goal tiebreakers, to reach the final.
La Raza coach Eric Geyer felt like the game's key point was in the first half, after both Alvarez goals and a score by Ivan Medina gave the expansion team a 6-2 lead late in the first period.
"There were some errors on our part that helped them get back in the game," Geyer said. "We had a mental letdown there, and Baltimore is the kind of team with the experience and knowledge to poison you right there."
Still, Baltimore did not seal the game until 2:03 remained. Bontti authored some magnificent saves in a Baltimore flurry, but then a turnover led to P.J. Wakefield dishing to Gonzaga for the clinching score.
Jose Luis Birche drilled a 3-pointer with six seconds left to close the gap but La Raza did not get another opportunity.
Alvarez was the leading scorer overall in the postseason with 22 points.
Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from April 26, 2008
- Blast win 2007-08 MISL championship - MISL 2
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