The Blast defeated the Rochester Lancers, 15-5, Saturday night for their eighth straight home win of the season, improving to 12-2.   Leading scorer Machel Millwood led the way with two goals as the Blast set a franchise record for most home wins to open the season.

Rochester’s Mauricio Salles scored a three-point restart goal late in the first quarter to give the Lancers a 3-0 lead before J.T. Noone struck twice in four minutes to put the Blast on top, 4-3.  Former Blast player Rey Martinez scored next to put the Lancers back on top, 5-4, but Blast rookie Lucas Roque scored late in the first half to make it 6-5 at halftime.  Roque also scored two goals in Friday’s 23-12 win over the Lancers and two goals in Tuesday’s victory in Rochester.

Millwood scored his first goal of the night, the only goal of the third quarter, to extend the Blast lead to 8-5.  His second goal, a three-pointer, came on the power play midway through the final quarter. Tony Donatelli and Lucio Gonzaga added late goals to seal the 15-5 victory.

The Blast are on a 17-game regular-season home winning streak.

Upcoming Games
Friday, January 11 at Chicago Soul
Saturday, January 12 at Milwaukee Wave

Max Ferdinand recorded a hat trick Friday night to lead the Blast to a 23-12 victory over the visiting Rochester Lancers.  The Blast, 11-2, will host the Lancers again Saturday night for the third game between the teams in the first five days of 2013.

Ferdinand opened the scoring in the fifth minute of play to give the Blast an early 2-0 lead before Rochester’s Mauricio Salles tied the game and Jeremy Ortiz gave the Lancers a 4-2 lead late in the quarter.

Blast team captain Mike Lookingland scored early in the second quarter to tie the game at 4-4 and Ferdinand’s second goal put the Blast back on top, 6-4.  Rookie Lucas Roque, who scored two goals in Tuesday’s 17-4 win over the Lancers, added a goal to increase the the Blast lead to 8-4 at halftime.

The Lancers came out fast in the second half, scoring two quick goals to tie the games at 8-8. Elliot Fauske scored in the third minute to cut the Blast lead to 8-6 and Salles recorded his second goal of the game a minute later to tie it up. Roque’s second goal of the game kicked off a four-goal run for the Blast to end the quarter with a 17-8 lead.  Machel Millwood, the team’s leading scorer, knocked in two goals in the last five minutes and Lucio Gonzaga added a long-range three pointer.

“We had to dig deep to come back and win this game,” said Millwood of the team’s third-quarter scoring frenzy.

The teams traded goals in the final quarter with Alan McGreal scoring first for the Lancers to cut the Blast lead to 17-10.  Ferdinand completed his hat trick in the ninth minute (19-10) before former Blast player Rey Martinez cut the score to 19-12. Ptah Myers scored next and Adauto Neto ended the game with a shootout goal to make it 23-12.

Notes:

• The Blast have started the 2012-13 season with seven straight home wins, trying the team record set by the 1993-94 then-Baltimore Spirit; a win tomorrow would break the record
• Seven different Blast players scored in the win
• The Blast are on a 16-game regular-season home win streak

Upcoming Games
Saturday, January 5 vs. Rochester Lancers
Friday, January 11 at Chicago Soul
Saturday, January 12 at Milwaukee Wave