Healey picked up a goal in the MISL opener.
Six current and former Crystal Palace Baltimore players opened up the 2009-10 Major Indoor Soccer League season Friday night, as the Baltimore Blast faced the Rockford Rampage at 1st Mariner Arena.
The Blast features four players who have spent their time with the USL-2 club, including three who played with the team during this past season.
Ryan Pierce and Machel Millwood are starting their third and sixth seasons, respectively, with the indoor side, while Pat Healey is beginning his second year with Baltimore. Healey won NISL Rookie of the Year honors in 2008-09, scoring six goals and adding four assists in 18 games. Defender Mike Lookingland played 15 games for Palace in the 2008 campaign.
Lookingland assisted on Celenza's late goal.
Rockford boasts two former Palace players, both of whom played for the squad in 2007 and 2008. Ibrahim Kante played in 25 matches for the Eagles, scoring three goals, while Gary Brooks holds the record for most goals with the club, totaling 14 in 23 matches.
As for the game itself, Rockford held a 4-2 advantage after one quarter of play. The Blast evened the contest at 4-4 with an early second quarter goal from veteran Denison Cabral; Machel Millwood picked up the assist.
The score would remain the same until the 3:21 mark of the fourth quarter, when Gary Brooks scored to regain the lead for the Rampage.
Pat Healey scored two minutes later with a shot that found the lower right-hand corner of the net, tying the game at 6-6.
With 3:44 to play, Ibrahim Kante drove the ball low and hard past Blast goalkeeper Sagu, swinging the lead back to Rockford, 8-6.
Brooks helped Rockford to a 10-8 OT win.
Baltimore then pulled Sagu for a sixth attacker, and managed to score with just 1:18 left on the clock, making the score 8-8. Giuliano Celenza scored the late goal off of a feed from Mike Lookingland.
The game was headed for overtime, and after almost ten minutes of play, the Rampage finally got the game-winner, as Chris Brisson netted one past Sagu to give Rockford a 10-8 victory.
For more information about the Blast, visit Richard Crabbe's Examiner page.
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