The Baltimore Bays closed out the first half of their indoor season by defeating the Jersey Dragons, 11-7, in a nonconference game last night at Du Burns Arena.
The Bays (5-2), who are off until their trip to Brandon, Fla., and Orlando, Fla., on Jan. 6 and 7, scored four unanswered goals in the second quarter and then staved off a Jersey squad playing with reckless abandon.
After recording a hat trick last week, Eric Riedlbauer came back and led the Bays again, this time collecting two goals and one assist. Riedlbauer was one of four Baltimore players to score twice, the others being Mark Mettrick, Dave Parravano and Joe Layfield.
The Dragons (0-1), playing in their first game of a limited indoor schedule, took a 2-0 lead after an unassisted goal by Javier Velazquez.
"This is the third game in a row we came out flat, and this time I think it was because we knew we could beat them," said Bays goalie Dave Tenney, who has seven saves. "We knew this was their first game and we just over-relaxed in the beginning."
Billy Ronson, who leads the U.S. Interregional Soccer League in assists with 13, picked up his fifth goal of the season and pulled Baltimore back to within a goal when he drilled a 25-yarder into the lower-left corner of the net, leaving Jersey goalkeeper Kevin East slack-jawed and frozen in an upright position.
Mettrick tied the game at 2 just over two minutes later, as he converted a pass from Greg Barger. The Bays took their first lead of the game 30 seconds later when Layfield won a battle for the ball near the glass, centered it and drove home an unassisted goal with 4:49 left in the opening quarter.
Jersey tied the game with 3:51 left in the first quarter and %J Ronson had a chanced to break it in a shootout but was denied by East, who faced 46 shots and made 20 saves.
The second quarter -- dominated by Baltimore -- began with Eric Spalt redirecting a kick by Ron Chesney for the score and ended with Dan Santoro scoring on a pass off the glass from Ronson on a power play with 2.7 seconds left in the half.
,.3l Sandwiched between those two scores was Parravano's first goal of the season and another by Riedlbauer on a feed from Ronson, giving the Bays a 7-3 halftime lead.
Twice the Dragons were within two goals during the third quarter but got no closer.
Jersey ..3 ..0 ..3 ..1 ..-- ..7
Bays .. .3 ..4 ..1 ..3 ..-- .11