BUFFALO, N.Y. -- In the first of three important weekend games, the Spirit got the victory it needed, but not before trailing most of the game.
Last night, the Spirit escaped with a 15-14, last-minute NPSL victory over the Buffalo Blizzard and closed within 1 1/2 games of the Cleveland Crunch in the American Division.
The Spirit plays at Cleveland at 7 p.m. today, then returns to face the Crunch at the Baltimore Arena tomorrow.
Baltimore extended its road winning streak to four games and raised its record at Memorial Auditorium to 2-6.
"Every time we're up here, we get behind the 8-ball," Spirit coach Dave MacWilliams said. "Tonight, we had miscommunication and bad pass and we were behind 3-0. That put us into a hole."
The Spirit trailed for all but the final minute. It came back from a 14-8 deficit, outscoring the Blizzard 7-0 in the fourth quarter and getting the game-winner on a shootout kick by Jon Parry with 41 seconds left.
The shootout resulted from an intentional hand-ball call against Buffalo goaltender Rob Marinaro. With Marinaro in the penalty box, the Blizzard forced backup goalie Jeff Robben -- making his first appearance of the season -- to face Parry.
Parry put the ball in the upper left corner behind Robben for the go-ahead goal.
Jason Dieter tied the score at 14 on a two-point goal with 3:29 left.
Kevin Sloan and Parry each scored three goals. Mike Stankovic had two fourth-quarter assists.
Paul Dougherty scored two goals for Buffalo. Dean Kelly added a goal and two assists for the Blizzard.
Parry's first goal, a three-pointer from the center of the yellow line, was his sixth three of the year, a Spirit record. His second came on a shootout in the second quarter. But neither was as important as his last.
"You play the game to get wins like that," Parry said. "We never quit. We covered for each other."
MacWilliams dispelled any notion that his troops may have been looking ahead to Cleveland.
"The key is that those two games don't mean anything unless we come in here and do the business," he said. "If we lose, we're still three games out and it doesn't matter if we win the other two."
Baltimore .. 3 .. 3 .. 2 .. 7 .. -- .. 15
Buffalo .... 5 .. 7 .. 2 .. 0 .. -- .. 14