The Baltimore Blast are an American professional indoor soccer team based in the Baltimore metropolitan area, that competes in the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL).
Including one championship victory as the original Baltimore Blast, the team has won 10 championships since its founding in 1980. Since the 2017-2018 season, home games have been played at Towson University's TU Arena. The Blast previously played at CFG Bank Arena in downtown Baltimore. Team colors are red and gold. Their current head coach is David Bascome, who took over from Danny Kelly who held the position for 15 years.
History
NPSL, MISL II and MISL III years The team was 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. 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 (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. 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. 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.
In their first two seasons as a member of MASL, the Blast would win 33 out of 39 games. They placed first in the Eastern Division in both the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 seasons, played in the 2015 and 2016 championship series and won the 2016 series over Soles de Sonora two games to none. The Blast repeated as Newman Cup Champions in 2017, again winning the final series over Soles de Sonora two games to one. In 2018, the Blast won their third straight championship, defeating the Monterrey Flash 4-3 in the final.
Attempted launch of the IPL On February 18, 2016, Blast owner Ed Hale announced his intentions to leave the Major Arena Soccer League and form a new league.
On May 3, 2016, the expansion franchise Florida Tropics SC held a press conference stating they would be joining the IPL. At the press conference, Ed Hale was announced as the chairman of the league, and Sam Fantauzzo, former owner of the Rochester Lancers, was announced as the first commissioner of the league. It was announced that the St. Louis Ambush, Baltimore Blast, and Harrisburg Heat had "resigned" from the MASL.
On August 29, 2016, the Blast, Heat, Ambush re-entered the MASL with the expansion Tropics joining. The move effectively folded the IPL as no teams remained in the league.
After rejoining the MASL, the Blast would go on to win their second Eastern Division championship and MASL championship over Soles de Sonora for the second year in a row.
Move to SECU Arena The Blast announced in August 2017 that they would move from the Royal Farms Arena to the SECU Arena on the campus of Towson University, beginning in the 2017-2018 MASL season. The move was the first time the Blast franchise played home games in an arena other than the Baltimore Arena. In June 2021 the Blast announced an affiliation partnership with Baltimore Kings, who will be playing their first arena soccer season in MASL 3 in January 2022. In March 2023, the Blast announced that the Rochester Lancers would be their affiliate in MASL 2
Players
2023–24 roster Active players As of 2 April 2024
Inactive players
Staff David Bascome – Head coach, (2020–present) Adauto Neto – Assistant coach Sergio Moura – Assistant coach
Retired numbers PlayerNumberStan Stamenkovic#10
Hall of Fame PositionPersonInductedCoach Kenny Cooper2004FW Stan Stamenkovic 2004DF Mike Stankovic2004DF Bruce Savage2005N/A Earl Foreman 2005FW Tim Wittman2005FW Joey Fink2006FW Dave MacWilliams2006FW Heinz Wirtz2007FW Domenic Mobilio2008GK Keith Van Eron2008FW Billy Ronson2009DF Richard Chinapoo2009FW Pat Ercoli2010GK Cris Vaccaro2010DF Doug Neely2011FW Dan Counce2012DF Rusty Troy2012FW Tarik Walker2013MF Denison Cabral2014DF Lance Johnson2015MF/Coach Danny Kelly2017GK Sagu2018DF PJ Wakefield2019FW Giuliano Celenza2019MF Lee Tschantret2020FW/Coach David Bascome2020Trainer Marty McGinty2020
Notable former players Denison Cabral Jason Dieter Levi Houapeu Jason Maricle Tony McPeak Tino Nuñez Onua Obasi Rusty Troy Barry Stitz PJ Wakefield Tarik Walker
Year-by-year YearLeagueGPWLWin%GFGAGF/GGA/GFinishPlayoffsGPW LWin%Avg. attendance 1992–93NPSL II 40 2713 309 2567.736.401st AmericanQuarterfinal2025,4441993–94NPSL II 40 26 14 322 2938.057.331st AmericanFirst Round2026,4711994–95NPSL II 40 23 17 317 3077.937.683rd AmericanFirst Round3125,7331995–96NPSL II 40 25 15 306 2587.656.452nd AmericanDivision Semifinal6335,0371996–97NPSL II 40 20 20 260 2586.506.452nd EastConference Semifinal5324,7601997–98NPSL II 40 12 28 250 3006.257.503rd EastDNQ5,0011998–99NPSL II 40 19 21 271 2906.787.253rd EastDNQ4,7951999–2000NPSL II 44 26 18 339 2757.706.251st EastConference Final4225,4452000–01NPSL II 40 22 18 300 2607.506.503rd AmericanConference Final5325,3762001–02MISL II 44 18 26 265 2746.026.234th MISLSemifinal1014,9982002–03MISL II 36 18 18 189 1825.255.063rd EasternChampions5415,5592003–04MISL II 36 25 11 241 1926.695.331st EasternChampions4406,3302004–05MISL II 39 15 24 205 2385.266.107th MISLDNQ 5,7522005–06MISL II 30 17 13 184 1686.135.602nd MISLChampions6427,0052006–07MISL II 30 15 15 154 1505.135.005th MISL DNQ7,4492007–08MISL II 30 19 11 186 1356.204.503rd MISLChampions5507,2302008–09NISL 18 14 4 132 667.333.671st NISLChampions1107,5342009–10MISL III 20 11 9 105 975.254.852nd MISLSemifinal2026,2592010–11MISL III 20 15 5 131 936.554.651st MISLRunner-up1016,933 2011–12MISL III 24 18 6 165 1086.884.501st EasternRunner-up4225,961 2012–13MISL III 26 21 5 181 1086.964.151st MISLChampions4405,5442013–14MISL III 20 17 3 147 467.352.301st MISLRunner-up6336,1232014–15MASL 20 18 2 167 698.353.451st EasternRunner-up6426,2012015–16MASL 19 15 4 129 576.793.001st EasternChampions6606,1022016–17MASL 20 14 6 113 695.653.451st EasternChampions9636,2992017–18MASL 22 17 5 143 1086.504.911st EasternChampions4403,4912018–19MASL 24 17 7 144 1036.004.292nd EasternSemifinal4223,3172019–20MASL 231581751047.614.524th EasternPlay-off cancelled2,6412021MASLdid not participate2021–22MASL 211291421116.765.292nd EasternQuarterfinal3122,1832022–23MASL 2413111411015.884.212nd EasternRunner-up7432,778*2023–24MASL 2413111401545.836.425th EasternDNQ1,7802024–25MASL 241681671236.965.133rd MASLSemifinal2111,5702025–26MASL 2414101641416.835.882nd MASLSemifinal3121,564Total982587395 6,5845,4946.705.599 Championships1106842–*Attendance average excludes one 15 minute mini match played directly after their quarter-final matchup.
Records Statistics below show the all-time regular-season club leaders and include player statistics from the original Baltimore Blast which competed in the Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992). Bold indicates active Blast players.
Category Record holder Total Games Tim Wittman 441 Goals Denison Cabral 445 Assists Srboljub Stamenković 199 Game-winning goals Denison Cabral 32 Blocks Lance Johnson 694 Shutouts William Vanzela 11 Wins William Vanzela 105
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 (2006–2020) David Bascome (2020–present)
Arenas Royal Farms Arena; Baltimore, Maryland (1992–2017) (previously known as Baltimore Civic Center, Baltimore Arena, 1st Mariner Arena) SECU Arena; Towson, Maryland (2017–present)
References
External links
Baltimore Blast on FunWhileItLasted.net