The Baltimore Bays have had their ups and downs this indoor soccer season, but the Richmond Kickers now know what the Bays are capable of.
The Bays, who snapped Atlanta's 39-winning streak before getting upset by Orlando last Saturday, turned four first-half power plays into goals and then cruised to an 8-3 victory last night at Du Burns Arena.
Billy Ronson, last year's U.S. Interregional Soccer League assists leader with 34, assisted on all four of the Bays' first-half goals and finished the night with seven assists -- short of the 10 feeds he recorded last season against Toledo but more than enough to keep the Bays' record above the .500 mark.
"You have nights when everything you do goes right, and tonighwas one of those nights," said Ronson. "Some nights are the exactly opposite."
Baltimore (3-2) capitalized on its first man-up situation with 3:24 left in the first quarter as Joe Barger found the upper-left corner of the net on a feed from Ronson.
The Kickers' first-quarter scoring woes weren't for lack of trying. Richmond, playing in its season-opener, put the ball on goal seven times in the first 15 minutes but four of the shots were stopped by goalie Brian Hartlove (16 saves) and the other three were deflected by Scott Krosnowski, Mark Mettrick and Roberto Ascenziu.
Richmond scored back-to-back goals late in the third quarter, before Roberto Ascenziu got the Bays back on track.