Baltimore Blast and Norfolk SharX set to battle Friday night

In preparation for the upcoming postseason, the Eastern-Division-leading Baltimore Blast will play two home games this weekend against division rivals.  The Blast will host the Norfolk SharX on Friday and the Rochester Lancers on Saturday.  Friday night is a rematch of last week's game between the Blast and SharX and the third of four games between the teams in a 20-day span.  Six Blast players scored in last week’s 18-2 win over the SharX, including Max Ferdinand who led Baltimore with three goals and one assist (seven points).

The SharX, one of the four new MISL teams, started the season 0-9 and has a 3-13 record heading into Friday’s game against the Blast.  One of Norfolk’s three wins was a 17-12 victory over Baltimore on January 12th in Norfolk.  The SharX followed up the win over the Blast with a 12-11 win over Syracuse for two straight victories.  Miguel Ferrer led Norfolk in the win over the Blast with a three-point goal and a two-point goal and Matthew Delicate scored the SharX lone goal last Friday.  Ferrer leads the SharX in scoring with 28 points followed by Matt Clare (27 points) and Gersen Dos Santos (26 points).  SharX Goalkeeper Jamie Lieberman (2-11) is 1-1 against the Blast and was last week’s MISL Player of the Week.

The Blast will take on the Rochester Lancers Saturday night on military appreciation night at 1st Mariner Arena.  The Blast players will take the field in camo jerseys that fans can bid on throughout the game.  Saturday will be the final regular-season meeting between Baltimore and Rochester, with the Blast having won each of the previous three games.  The Lancers are led by Mauricio Salles who has 53 points and ranks second in the MISL in scoring.  Veteran Doug Miller follows with 44 points and goalkeeper Pat Hannigan is 7-6 on the season.

The Blast is led by Ferdinand (42 points), Machel Millwood (40 points) and Adauto Neto (38 points) while goalkeeper Sagu is 10-3 on the season and Akira Fitzgerald is 1-1.