MISL Playoffs : Lazers Can’t Hold a Two-Goal Lead, Lose to Baltimore, 4-3

The Lazers lost the first game of their best-of-five Major Indoor Soccer League quarterfinal playoff series to the Baltimore Blast, 4-3, Wednesday night when their defense buckled in the second half.

A crowd of 7,108 at the Baltimore Civic Center saw defender Mike Stankovic give the Blast a 1-0 lead less than nine minutes into the game, but the Lazers responded with a pair of goals by Juan Cardenas and another by Batata to lead, 3-1, at halftime.

Baltimore, the defending MISL champion, cut the deficit to 3-2 in the third quarter on Dave MacWilliams’ goal, then tied it in the fourth period on Ernie Buriano’s shot.

Stan Stamenkovic scored the game-winner 6:24 into the final period.

“In the first half, we stuck to our game plan by keeping the game moving, fast-breaking and hitting the boards,” Lazer Coach Peter Wall said. “But in the second half we got away from all that and you can’t do that against the Blast.”

The second game in the series will be played Friday night at Baltimore, with the third at the Forum Sunday night at 6.