UTICA TAKES ON BALTIMORE IN EASTERN DIVISION SHOWDOWN

Tonight’s Game: Utica City FC travels south to take on the Baltimore Blast. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.

Last Game: Utica City rode multi-point efforts from Slavisa Ubiparipovic and Darren Toby en route to a 10-6 win over the Orlando SeaWolves Sunday afternoon at a raucous Adirondack Bank Center. Andrew Coughlin made seven saves in the victory.

Head-To-Head: This is the fourth meeting between the Eastern Division rivals this year. Utica leads the season series 2-1 and won the most recent matchup 6-3 back on December 30. City has outscored the Blast 17-12 through three games.

Scouting The Blast: Baltimore comes in with a record of 7-4 on the season and sits in second place in the Eastern Division. They most recently fell to the Milwaukee Wave 4-2 last Saturday. Jonatas Melo leads the offense with 18 points, followed by Vinicius Dantas with 13 points. William Vanzela is the leading goalkeeper with a 6-4 record, a 4.52 goals-against average, and a .711 save percentage.

Explosive Offense: Part of Utica’s success this season can be attributed to their ability to score often. Utica has found the net 87 times this season, which is third most in the league. Their +17 goal differential also ranks fifth in the league.

Defensive Machine: Darren Toby has been spectacular this season. Toby is second in the MASL with 21 blocks. He has also chipped in 12 points (5-7-12), his highest total in two seasons.

Career Year: Slavisa Ubiparipovic is on his way to a career year. Ubiparipovic is 10 points shy of tying his career high. Additionally, he is seven goals and seven assists shy of tying career highs in those categories.

Streaking: Bo Jelovac has been on a tear. Jelovac is riding a four-game point streak, picking up a total of six points (3-3-6). Two of those games were multi-point efforts. The captain has 15 points (9-6-15) in 12 games this season.

Next Game: Utica City returns home Sunday afternoon to host the Mississauga MetroStars. Kickoff at the Adirondack Bank Center is at 2 p.m. Tickets are available by calling the Box Office at (315) 790-9070 or by visiting www.empirestatetix.com.