Many Blast players remember watching the Missouri Comets celebrate a Major Indoor Soccer League championship last season before a stunned crowd in Baltimore. <\/p>\n
Almost a year later, after a move to the Major Arena Soccer League, the Blast finally got some measure of revenge. In Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, the Blast emerged with a 6-4 victory before an announced 4,562 at Royal Farms Arena on Friday night. <\/p>\n
Adriano Dos Santos, Tony Donatelli and Lucas Roque scored for the Blast, which handed the Comets their first loss of the season. <\/p>\n
\"It was an unbelievable performance,\" Blast coach Danny Kelly said. \"Defensively, to be able to hold that team, the highest-scoring team in the league, to two goals is a tremendous achievement. Obviously, it was just one game. We wanted to win that game and go into Missouri up a game. We accomplished that, and now we have to win there.\" <\/p>\n
The second game of the series will be played Sunday at Independence Events Center, in the Kansas City, Mo., suburbs. If the Comets win, the teams will play a 15 minute mini game immediately afterward to determine the series' winner. <\/p>\n
Comets goalkeeper Danny Waltman finished with 18 saves, including several diving stops that kept the Blast from fully taking control. <\/p>\n
William Vanzela (26 saves) was equally adept in goal for the Blast and helped keep the game tied at 2 midway through the third quarter when he stopped a bicycle kick from Leo Gibson, who led the league in scoring during the regular season. The Blast took a 4-2 lead with 3:10 left in the third when Donatelli slotted the ball past Waltman. <\/p>\n
Roque provided a 6-2 margin just 2:53 into the final period. From there, the Blast continued to stay aggressive on defense, and the Comets appeared to wear down, having played the previous night. Missouri pulled Waltman for a sixth attacker and got to within 6-4 on a goal by Gibson with under four minutes left. <\/p>\n
\"It's a playoff game, and they battle hard,\" Donatelli said. \"We knew that coming in. They played last night, and [we] tried to take advantage of that. In the playoffs, it's always hard to find goals. We were able to grind it out tonight.\" <\/p>\n
The Blast didn't play the Comets this season. Last year, Missouri beat the visiting Blast, 15-8, in Game 1 of the MISL championship series. The Blast responded with a 19-4 victory in Game 2 to force a mini game. Missouri, however, took home the title after a 6-4 win. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Read more here: <\/p>\n
Blast gets some revenge with 6-4 playoff win over visiting Comets<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Many Blast players remember watching the Missouri Comets celebrate a Major Indoor Soccer League championship last season before a stunned crowd in Baltimore. Almost a year later, after a move to the Major Arena Soccer League, the Blast finally got some measure of revenge. Continue reading