The Blast is in a Milwaukee state of mind.
Baltimore survived a frantic finish to eliminate the Milwaukee Wave, 14-13, in front of 3,645 fans at U.S. Cellular Arena on Sunday afternoon and secure a berth in the same venue for the Major Indoor Soccer League championship game on Saturday.
“The last few minutes of the game were pretty crazy,” Blast coach Danny Kelly said. “The last few minutes was very tough to watch. You have to fight, crawl and scratch to keep the ball out of your goal.”
The Blast (23-11) swept the two-game semifinal series ? winning 13-8 in Baltimore last Wednesday ? to secure a berth in the championship game against the La Raza of Monterrey, Mexico.
But it wasn?t easy.
Baltimore had to kill a two-minute holding penalty and subsequent shootout opportunity after defender Billy Nelson dragged down Wave forwardMichael King with 3:36 remaining.
Forward Greg Howes, the league?s leading scorer with 130 points during the regular season, was unable to get off a shot in his shootout attempt, as Blast goalie Sagu knocked the ball off his foot.
Baltimore killed off the rest of Nelson?s penalty, and withstood a late flurry of shots that hit the boards surrounding Sagu.
“I could have cost us the game,” Nelson said. “I am just thankful that Sagu came out big for us.”
The Blast will play for its fourth title in the past six seasons on Saturday.
Baltimore, which trailed 5-4 at the half, gained the lead four minutes, 25 seconds into the third quarter when forward Machel Millwood tipped a shot past Wave goalie Nick Vorberg on a scramble for a 6-5 lead.
The Blast extended the lead to 10-5 on goals from midfielder Lucio Gonzaga and forward Giuliano Celenza a little more than two minutes later, but the Wave (22-10) answered with a pair of scores to trim the lead to one. Millwood, however, sent a chip shot over the head of Vorberg as he was falling down from eight yards away with 43 seconds left in the quarter to give his team a 12-9 lead entering the final period.
Blast forward Matt Watson extended the lead to 14-9 with 10:12 remaining, but the Wave responded. Forward Anthony Maher drew Milwaukee within three and King capped the scoring with a shot from about nine yards away with 4:18 left.
“You couldn?t ask for anything better,” Millwood, who finished with two goals and an assist, said. “We knew at the end of the game it would come down to who had the heart.”
