Baltimore Blast

This article is about the current Baltimore Blast team that formed in 1992 as the Baltimore Spirit. For the original team, see Baltimore Blast (1980–1992).

Baltimore Blast

Full name

Baltimore Blast

Nickname(s)

Blast

Founded

1992 (as Baltimore Spirit)

Stadium

Royal Farms Arena

Capacity

11,286

Chairman

Edwin F. Hale, Sr.^[1]

Coach

Danny Kelly

League

Major Arena Soccer League

2014–15

1st, Eastern Division
Playoffs: Newman Cup runner-up

Website

Club home page

Home colors

Away colors

The Baltimore Blast are an American professional indoor soccer -now referred to as Arena Soccer- team based in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

The team, founded in 1992, plays its home games at Royal Farms Arena. Team colors are red and gold. Their current head coach is Danny Kelly.

History

NPSL/MISL II/MISL III Years

The Baltimore Blast were founded by North Carolina-based software executive Bill Stealey as the Baltimore Spirit at the end of July 1992 and joined the National Professional Soccer League. The team replaced the earlier Baltimore Blast, who folded along with the original Major Indoor Soccer League.^[2] When the team was purchased by Ed Hale, a former owner of the original team, the Spirit were renamed the Blast on July 10, 1998^[3] (Hale had the rights to the Blast name, hence the reason why the team decided to change its name) and joined the new MISL II in 2001. After the MISL II folded in 2008, the team announced it would be joining the new National Indoor Soccer League, which would later acquire the rights to, and became, the third version of the MISL.

Shift to MASL

One day after the 2013-2014 MISL Championship final, USL President Tim Holt announced a number of teams would not be returning to the MISL the following year.^[4] The franchise announced on April 2, 2014, that it would not return to the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) after its contract with the United Soccer Leagues (USL), owners of the circuit, expired following the 2013–14 season.^[5] It was officially announced the Blast would be one of six teams joining the Professional Arena Soccer League (later renamed the Major Arena Soccer League) in the 2014-2015 season.^[6]^[7]

Players

2015-16 roster

As of January 15, 2016^[8]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Position	Player
0	GK	William Vanzela
1	GK	Jeremy Figler
4	FW	Andrew Hoxie
6	DF	Kaoru Forbess
7	MF	Levi Houapeu
8	FW	Lucas Roque
9	DF	Pat Healey
11	FW	Tony Donatelli
12	DF	Adriano Dos Santos
13	DF	Jereme Raley

No.	Position	Player
14	DF	Onua Obasi
15	FW	Jamie Darvill
17	MF	Jeremy Ortiz
19	DF	Uzi Tayou
22	MF	Juan Pereira
23	MF	Jonatas Melo
24	FW	Sofiane Tergou
27	FW	Jinho Kim
28	FW	Vini Dantas
80	MF	Geaton Caltabiano

Retired numbers

Player	Number
Mike Reynolds	#3
Stan Stamenkovic	#10

Hall of Fame

Position	Person	Inducted
Coach	Kenny Cooper	2004
FW	Stan Stamenkovic	2004
DF	Mike Stankovic	2004
DF	Bruce Savage	2005
N/A	Earl Foreman	2005
FW	Tim Wittman	2005
FW	Joey Fink	2006
FW	Dave MacWilliams	2006
FW	Heinz Wirtz	2007
FW	Domenic Mobilio	2008
GK	Keith Van Eron	2008
FW	Billy Ronson	2009
DF	Richard Chinapoo	2009
FW	Pat Ercoli	2010
GK	Cris Vaccaro	2010
DF	Doug Neely	2011
FW	Dan Counce	2012
DF	Rusty Troy	2012
FW	Tarik Walker	2013
MF	Denison Cabral	2014
DF	Lance Johnson	2015

Notable former players

Denison Cabral
Jason Dieter
Jason Maricle
Tony McPeak
Tino Nuñez
PJ Wakefield
Rusty Troy
Tarik Walker
Barry Stitz

Year-by-year

Year	League	Reg. Season	GF	GA	Finish	Playoffs	Avg. attendance
1992-93	NPSL II	27-13	309	256	1st American	Lost Quarterfinal	5,444
1993-94	NPSL II	26-14	322	293	1st American	Lost First Round	6,471
1994-95	NPSL II	23-17	317	307	3rd American	Lost First Round	5,733
1995-96	NPSL II	25-15	306	258	2nd American	Lost Division Semifinal	5,037
1996-97	NPSL II	20-20	260	258	2nd East	Lost Conference Semifinal	4,760
1997-98	NPSL II	12-28	250	300	3rd East	Failed to qualify	5,001
1998-99	NPSL II	19-21	271	290	3rd East	Failed to qualify	4,795
1999-00	NPSL II	26-18	339	275	1st East	Lost Conference Final	5,445
2000-01	NPSL II	22-18	300	260	3rd American	Lost Conference Final	5,376
2001-02	MISL II	18-26	265	274	4th MISL	Lost Semifinal	4,998
2002-03	MISL II	18-18	189	182	3rd Eastern	Won Championship	5,559
2003-04	MISL II	25-11	241	192	1st Eastern	Won Championship	6,330
2004-05	MISL II	15-24	205	238	7th MISL	Failed to qualify	5,752
2005-06	MISL II	17-13	184	168	2nd MISL	Won Championship	7,005
2006-07	MISL II	15-15	154	150	5th MISL	Failed to qualify	7,449
2007-08	MISL II	19-11	186	135	3rd MISL	Won Championship	7,230
2008-09	NISL	14-4	132	66	1st NISL	Won Championship	7,534
2009-10	MISL III	11-9	105	97	2nd MISL	Lost Semifinal	6,259
2010-11	MISL III	15-5	131	93	1st MISL	Lost Final	6,933
2011-12	MISL III	18-6	165	108	1st Eastern	Lost Final	5,961
2012-13	MISL III	21-5	181	108	1st MISL	Won Championship	5,544
2013-14	MISL III	17-3	147	46	1st MISL	Lost Final	6,123
2014–15	MASL	18-2	167	69	1st Eastern	Lost Final	6,201
Total		379-294 Win % = .563%				32-26 Win % = .551%	5,876

Head coaches

Kenny Cooper Sr. (1992-1994)
Dave MacWilliams (1994-1996)
Mike Stankovic (1996-1998)
Kevin Healey (1998-2002)
Sean Bowers (2002)
Bobby McAvan (2002-2003)
Tim Wittman (2003-2006)
Danny Kelly (2006–present)

Arenas

Royal Farms Arena; Baltimore, Maryland (1992–present) (previously Baltimore Civic Center, Baltimore Arena, 1st Mariner Arena)

References

↑ Wells, Carrie (November 8, 2014). "'Hale Storm' reveals prominent former banker's CIA ties, two failed marriages". The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD: Tribune Publishing). Retrieved November 9, 2014.
↑ Ey, Craig S. (August 11, 1997). "Can soccer succeed in Baltimore?". Baltimore Business Journal (Baltimore, MD: Advance Publications). Retrieved December 9, 2014.
↑ http://www.kicksfan.com/opponents/baltimore/new/index.htm
↑ http://www.frequency.com/video/misl-statement/156411245
↑ Graham, Glenn (April 3, 2014). "Seeking to become 'more relevant,' Blast breaks away from MISL". The Baltimore Sun.
↑ Graham, Glenn (November 7, 2014). "A look at the Blast's new league, the MASL". The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD: Tribune Publishing). Retrieved November 9, 2014.
↑ http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2014/04/14/ed-hale-moves-baltimore-blast-to-professional.html
↑

External links

Major Arena Soccer League teams

Active

Eastern	Baltimore Blast Harrisburg Heat Syracuse Silver Knights Waza Flo

Central	Cedar Rapids Rampage Chicago Mustangs Milwaukee Wave Missouri Comets St. Louis Ambush

Southwest	Atletico Baja Brownsville Barracudas Las Vegas Legends Sacramento Surge Saltillo Rancho Seco Turlock Express

Pacific	Dallas Sidekicks Ontario Fury San Diego Sockers Soles de Sonora Tacoma Stars

Future

Youngstown Nighthawks

Seasons

See also: Former Professional Arena Soccer League teams

Sports teams based in Maryland

Australian rules football	USAFL/EAFL/WAFA Baltimore Washington Eagles

Baseball	MLB Baltimore Orioles EL Bowie Baysox CL Frederick Keys SAL Delmarva Shorebirds Hagerstown Suns NYPL Aberdeen IronBirds AtL Southern Maryland Blue Crabs

Basketball	APBL Bay Area Shuckers

Football	NFL Baltimore Ravens Washington Redskins AIF Maryland Eagles WFA D.C. Divas IWFL Baltimore Nighthawks WSFL Baltimore Burn

Lacrosse	MLL Chesapeake Bayhawks

Roller derby	WFTDA Charm City Roller Girls Mason-Dixon Roller Vixens Salisbury Roller Girls MRDA Harm City Roller Derby

Rugby league	USARL Baltimore Blues

Rugby union	MARFU Baltimore-Chesapeake Maryland Exiles

Soccer	MASL Baltimore Blast PDL Baltimore Bohemians National Women's Soccer League Washington Spirit

College athletics (NCAA Division I)	Coppin State Johns Hopkins Blue Jays men's lacrosse Johns Hopkins Blue Jays women's lacrosse Loyola Maryland Maryland-Baltimore County Maryland-Eastern Shore Morgan State Mount St. Mary's Navy Towson

Main article: Sports in Maryland

City of Baltimore

Topics	Accent Culture Crime Ethnicities Events Film Flag Seal History Timeline Markets Media Music Neighborhoods People

Attractions	Churches Federal Hill Fells Point Fort McHenry Inner Harbor Johns Hopkins Hospital Museums Baltimore Museum of Art B&O Railroad Museum Public art Maryland Historical Society Maryland Science Center Mount Vernon National Aquarium Port Discovery Power Plant Live! Ships Skyscrapers Walters Art Museum Washington Monument Zoo

Education	Enoch Pratt Free Library Baltimore City Public Schools Private Schools Colleges and Universities City Community College

Government	Mayor (Stephanie Rawlings-Blake) City Council City Hall Delegates Senators Archives Courts Fire Health Police Sheriff's Office Transportation State Agencies

Industry	Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Bethlehem Steel Constellation Energy CoverGirl DeBaufre Bakeries Hecht's Grace Chemicals JoS. A. Bank Clothiers Legg Mason McCormick & Company Schmidt Bakeries T. Rowe Price Royal Farms Under Armour

Parks	Carroll Clifton Cylburn Druid Hill Gwynns Falls Leakin Herring Run Patterson Sherwood Wyman

Sports	Orioles (Camden Yards) Ravens (M&T Bank Stadium) Blast (Royal Farms Arena) Johns Hopkins Lacrosse (Homewood Field) Preakness (Pimlico Race Course) Baltimore Grand Prix Marathon Kinetic Race

Transportation	Metro Subway Light Rail Buses MARC Train Penn Station BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport Martin State Airport Port of Baltimore

Baltimore Metropolitan Area Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area Maryland

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