MILWAUKEE -- For 47 1/2 minutes last night, the Blast played even with the defending National Professional Soccer League champions, and that was worth something.
Not as much as a victory, mind you, but the Blast's last-minute, 14-9 defeat at the Bradley Center did not go for naught.
"We lost that game with a minute left," said Blast forward Tarik Walker, who played on the Wave's 1997-98 championship team. "It was never a situation where we were blown out by the defending champs. We proved a lot to ourselves and to the rest of the league."
The Blast led at the end of each of the first three quarters and was within eight minutes of an upset, too, but Milwaukee midfielder Peter Hattrup scored two goals in the last half of the final quarter, including the game-winner with 32 seconds left.
The 34-year-old midfielder brought a crowd of 6,851 to its feet when he split the Baltimore defense and connected from short range to tie the score 9-9 at the 7: 32 mark of the fourth quarter.
His game-winner came on the tap-in from just to the right of Blast goalkeeper Scott Hileman on a pass from Jason Willan with 32.4 seconds on the clock. Todd Dusosky added an empty-netter for the final score 17 seconds later.
Not only did the Blast (17-19) let the chance to even its record slip away, it also missed the opportunity to gain ground in the three-team East Division race. Leader Philadelphia (20-15) was idle, and Harrisburg beat Florida, 21-3, to move to 19-19, one game ahead of Baltimore.
As far as the Blast was concerned, its loss came down to a couple of bounces either way.
Wave goaltender Victor Nogueira finished with 16 saves, including an impressive three-save combination in the third period.
On the other end of the field, Willan caught a deflection on a looping three-pointer that pulled Milwaukee (24-14) within 7-5 in the third quarter.
Less than two minutes later, Michael King stepped around Blast defender Ronnie Simmons and knotted the game at 7.
"They got a deflected goal that's a three-pointer that put them right back in the game. Now it's 7-5," Healy said. "It was nip and tuck after that deflected goal, but that's the way the game is."
Walker, who was the NPSL Rookie of the Year for the Baltimore Spirit in 1993-94 and asked to be traded back to the Blast, came out strong against his old mates, scoring two goals as Baltimore forged a 7-2 halftime lead.
Although he didn't figure in the scoring in the second half, Walker did get the fans' attention when he exchanged words and shoves with King, the Wave's leading scorer.
There are no hard feelings between the two, both players said, but Walker said he had a point to make.
"I hate to see when players get away with whatever they want in their own building, and that's exactly what happened," Walker said. "In one shift, he kicked like five people, and there's no reason for anybody to get away with that."
Blast 2 5 2 0 -- 9
Milwaukee 0 2 5 7 -- 14
First quarter--1. Blast, Walker 2 pt. (McIntosh), 8: 36.
Second quarter--2. Blast, Thomas 3 pt. (Hicks), 2: 54; 3. Milwaukee, King 2 pt., 10: 34; 4. Blast, Walker 2 pt., 13: 33.
Third quarter--5. Milwaukee, Willan 3 pt., 2: 47; 6. Milwaukee, King 2 (Storm), 4: 58; 7. Blast, McIntosh 2 (Thomas), 11: 58.
Fourth quarter--8. Milwaukee, Hattrup 2 pt. (Timbers), 7: 32; 8. Milwaukee, Hattrup 2 pt. (Willan), 14: 28; 9. Milwaukee, Dusosky 3 pt., 14: 45.
Shots on goal--Blast 6-5-11-627. Milwaukee 6-10-12-1139. Goalies--Blast, Hileman 1-4-4-312 (39 shots, 12 saves). Milwaukee, Nogueira 4-3-6-316. (28 shots, 16 saves.) A--6,851.
Pub Date: 3/26/99