Denison Cabral put the Baltimore Blast ahead early, and that?s where they stayed.
Cabral scored two first-quarter goals to lift the Blast to a 14-7 victory over the Orlando Sharks Saturday at 1st Mariner Arena.
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“It made it a little bit easier for us to start the game with an early goal,” said Cabral, who added an assist in the fourth quarter for a game-high five points for Baltimore?s second win against Orlando in eight days. “We committed to have a good start, and it worked out well.”
Baltimore (4-0) remained unbeaten this season to maintain its first-place position in the Major Indoor Soccer League.
Cabral began the scoring onslaught for Baltimore with a one-timer from Machel Millwood ? the first of four goals in a six-minute stretch ? 40 seconds into the game. Millwood tapped a free kick from the top of the key to Cabral, who drove a 12-foot shot into the back of the net.
Matt Watson and Mike Lookingland followed with a pair of goals before Millwood found Cabral open for a straight-away shot inside the penalty box. Cabral set himself and gave Baltimore an 8-0 lead with nine minutes left in the first quarter.
“Denny?s obviously the guy we want to find in the set pieces,” Baltimore coach Danny Kelly said. “Anytime in the offensive third, we?re looking to get him the ball. I was happy that he got off to such a good start offensively.”
The Sharks (0-3) got the best of Blast goalkeeper Dave Kern, scoring three consecutivegoals to come within a point of Baltimore.
With his team trailing, 8-0, Orlando forward Simba Harris lined a shot past Kern, who started in place of an injured Sagu. Sharks defender Bill Sedgewick tucked a short pass to Harris off a restart to cut the deficit to six with 7:08 to go in the first quarter.
Orlando, one of three expansion teams, turned a Baltimore mistake into a 3-point goal with 5:05 remaining in the second quarter. Kern came out of the goal box at the 3-point line and played a pass off the boards. Sharks midfielder Dion Jagroo stole the pass and dropped a 55-foot shot into the Baltimore goal.
“There?s no way I?m ever going to play a ball the first time with my left foot ever again,” said Kern, who made five saves in his first MISL game.
Miodrag Djerisilo capped the Sharks? run with a line-drive shot goal from the left corner with 4:31 left in the third quarter.
“I think these guys are such a young team, they don?t know any better,” Sharks coach Jake Dancy said. “That?s the good thing about our team. There?s no quit in us.”
Baltimore ended Orlando?s run in the third quarter and rattled off six unanswered points for the victory.
Michael Todd dribbled into the Sharks? penalty box and pushed a pass to the right for Millwood, who stuffed a power-play goal into the upper-left corner of the net for a 10-7 advantage.
Todd and P.J. Wakefield teamed up to give Baltimore a five-point lead off a restart in the fourth quarter. Wakefield set up near the right wing and sent a centering pass off the glass, and Todd moved to his left to make a sliding swipe for a 12-7 lead.
The Blast doubled up the Sharks on Wakefield?s first goal of the season with 9:04 to play. Cabral led Wakefield on a two-one-one breakaway into Orlando territory. Nagy couldn?t get in front of Cabral?s goal-line pass, and Wakefield lifted his shot into the net.
“Our commitment was to go back to our game, keep the ball and not give them anything,” Cabral said. “Once we started doing that, then we started getting goals. We didn?t panic. We got the ball, played our game, and the rest will take care of itself.”
Notes: Kelly expects Sagu, who injured his right calf in Thursday?s practice, to miss at least the next two games. ? Giuliano Celenza and David Bascome each missed Saturday?s game and could miss next week?s meeting with Monterrey La Raza. They?ll be evaluated again next week.
