HENRIETTA, N.Y. — The Baltimore Blast scored five times in the opening period and went on to register an 11-0 win over the Rochester Lancers in Major Arena Soccer League action at the Dome Arena on Saturday night.

Juan Pereira led the way with a hat-trick and Vinny Dantas and Tony Donatelli tallied two goals apiece for Baltimore (3-4), which snapped a three-game losing streak. Mohamed Ndiaye also collected a goal and four assists for the Blast, which blanked the Lancers for the third time in its history.

Blast goalkeeper William Vanzela made eight saves as he recorded the shutout against the young Rochester squad (0-6). Lancers goalkeeper Brian Wilkin made 24 saves.

After Rochester played the Blast even for the opening half of the first quarter, the damn broke for the visitors. as Baltimore twice scored within a minute to grab a 5-0 first-period lead.

Adriano Dos Santos was involved in three goals. Former Lancer and Rochester Rhino Andrew Hoxie broke the ice, converting a rebound of a Dos Santos shot at 7:34. Only 45 seconds later, Ndiaye doubled the lead off a Mike Deasel assist, scoring from the left side.

The Blast added two more goals with a 19-second span. First, Pereira’s shot was deflected into the net by a Lancers player past Wilkin off a Dos Santos pass at 10:37 before Jamie Thomas scored off a scorcher of a shot from atop of the penalty arc on Jontas Melo’s feed at 10:56.

Dantas closed out the first period, connecting from the left side off another Melo assist at 12:25. He added his second of the game and 12th of the season as he drilled home a free kick from the penalty arc at 12:42 of the second period.

Ndiaye assisted on goals by Pereira (1:10) and Sam Guernsey (4:46) in the third quarter as Baltimore upped its lead to 8-0.

In the fourth period, Donatelli connected twice (1:47 and 2:52) and Pereira (6:18) once for the final three goals.

The Lancers will return to action next weekend as they will host Florida Tropics at the Dome Arena on Friday, Jan. 3 and then the Harrisburg Heat on Saturday, Jan. 4. Both games kick off at 7 p.m.

 

 

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.