February 17, 2024 – Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) – Utica City FC News Release
Towson, MD – After a weekend off, Utica City FC returned to MASL action with an away trip to the Baltimore Blast. Having taken down the Blast 13 days ago, UCFC fell flat in their first of two games in 24 hours and lost 13-6.
Both goalkeepers started the match well, with Mike Zierhoffer for Baltimore and Brian Wilkin for Utica making saves to keep the scores level. Then, at the 7:46 mark, the home side found a breakthrough with Victor Parreiras squeezing one past Wilkin. Thirty seconds later, Wilkin would come sliding out to halt a Baltimore 3-on-1 and keep the score 1-0 in favor of the Blast. Unfortunately, Wilkin would make an errant pass leading to a Ricardo Diegues tap-in to make it 2-0 Blast at the 9:41 mark. Baltimore would continue to apply pressure, and with three seconds left in the period the Blast added a shorthanded goal to go up by 3. After the Baltimore goal, Utica went into the first period break down 3.
Five minutes into the second, Utica would gain an opportunity from the penalty spot. Juan Pereira was charged with handling in the penalty box, and Franck Tayou thundered the penalty kick to the right of Zierhoffer. After the Tayou penalty, the floodgates opened for both offenses. Tony Donatelli lasered one past Wilkin before Tayou responded with his second goal of the night. Moments later, Moises Gonzalez tacked on another for Baltimore and then Nilton de Andrade continued to stay hot by placing himself in the scorers’ book. At the 9:53 mark in the second, the score sat 5-3 in favor of Baltimore. The Blast continued to dominate the possession, as Diegues found space in the Utica defensive lines at the 14:22 mark to make it 6-3 Baltimore, which would be the score going into halftime.
After the break, Utica would come out on the power play and convert thanks to Cole Stephens nicking a pass and scoring to make the score 6-4. However, the deficit would head back to three as Diegues would cap off his hat trick at the 3:42 mark in the third and make the score 7-4 Baltimore. Diegues turned his hat trick into a haul by adding another goal, this time off of a pass from Pereira to push the game to 8-4 at the 11:14 mark. Diegues would make it 5 goals on the night with another tally at the 14:50 mark in the third to make the score 9-3 going into the fourth.
With a mountain to climb in the fourth, things would not go in favor of the City. De Andrade would earn a…