GOALS GALORE IN REGULAR SEASON FINALE AS THE BALTIMORE BLAST DEFEAT UTICA CITY FC, 15-10

Utica, NY - With the playoff seedings set and Utica looking forward to a run at the 2024 Ron Newman Cup, the boys in blue traveled down to Baltimore to close out the regular season against the Blast. With sights ahead to early April, UCFC and the Blast played out a high-powered match that ended 15-10 in favor of Baltimore. 

The game started with a fluke for Utica’s offense–Nelson Santana made a tackle and the ball flew off his leg and rolled past Mike Zierhoffer in the Baltimore net. Just 2 minutes into the game, Utica held a 1-0 lead. However, the lead would not last long. UCFC was called for a too many men penalty, and on the power play Victor Parreiras found an equalizer for Baltimore. The goals continued for both sides, as DJ Albert got his first goal for Utica between the legs of Zierhoffer. The Blast found a quick two in response with Tony Donatelli and Patrick Thompson scoring within 30 seconds of each other to give Baltimore a 3-2 lead at the 9 minute mark of the first. Two minutes later, Franck Tayou played a ball off of the back wall into the path of Ronaldinho Diniz, who scored to equalize the game at 3-3. Oumar Sylla found another Baltimore goal from long range that took a deflection off of the Utica defense to give the Blast a 4-3 lead. 

The second quarter started slow, but it was another first UCFC goal that got the scoring started. At the 5:43 mark, Damon Almazan latched onto a backheel pass from Timmy Goldman and curled it into the top corner to tie the game 4-3. The home side took the lead back immediately with Parreiras tapping it past Julian Rodriguez in the Utica net. Sylla added another for Baltimore before Utica’s captain Dyland Hundelt found the back of the net to make the score 6-5 in favor of the home side. Then, Baltimore added another with Adriano Dos Santos scoring to make the score 7-5. UCFC kept on fighting, and a shot from Steven Fernandez deflected off of Tayou and into the back of the net to make the score 7-6 Blast heading into halftime. 

With work to do in the second half, Parreiras extended the Baltimore lead 3 minutes into the third. Utica responded with two goals–the first from Ronaldinho and the second from a shootout opportunity for Tayou after ZIerhoffer was called for tripping. With the score tied at 8 and the third quarter coming to a close, the Blast looked away from Parreiras and found production from Jamie Thomas, who scored to put Baltimore up 9-8 heading into the fourth. Things would take a turn for the worse in the fourth, with goals from Dos Santos and Thomas putting the Blast up 11-8. Moh Ndaiye pulled a goal back for Utica off of an assist from Issak Somow, and with four minutes left in the game it was time for Utica to roll the dice. Sending goalkeeper Brian Wilkin well into the attack left UCFC vulnerable at the back end, and a turnover led to Patrick Thompson slamming the ball against the back netting to make the score 12-9. Thomas added another for the Blast, pushing the score to 13-9 in the closing stages of the match. UCFC kept an extra attacker on, and Tayou continued his hot streak by lifting the ball past the Baltimore defense. The clock continued to tick, and at the 13:09 mark Zierhoffer threw a ball into the empty net for a 14-10 scoreline. The Blast found a final empty netter with Donatelli rolling one in, and that 15-10 scoreline would be the final tally on a high-powered match. 

Utica begins the postseason with a matchup away to 3-seed Kansas City on Monday, 4/8. Game 1 kicks off at 7:30 p.m. EST before Utica returns home for Game 2 on 4/15. The series decider on the 15th begins at 6:05 p.m. EST–tickets for the matchup are available at uticacityfc.com/tickets.