Focus - not cheering or assumptions it was wrapped up - is what former Blast head coach and current general manager Kevin Healey saw from his players when he looked into the locker room at halftime that night.

So much so, he went against the norm by staying inside the coaching room for much of the break.

The 30 minutes of play that followed, disastrous by all accounts, would change the team from then - April 29, 2001 - to now.

At the time, the Blast saw its carefully designed plan to reach the top dramatically tumble when, one half from reaching the elusive championship round, a 10-2 lead against the visiting Philadelphia KiXX changed into a harsh and stunning 16-15 defeat.

A penalty called at the half started a string of 14 straight points for the KiXX.

"We played an incredible half and then the second half we played, it felt like two or three years of hard work just went down the toilet," Blast forward Tarik Walker said. "To this day, our organization has not completely recovered from that."

Two seasons later, the team's swagger has turned to stagger.

After going 18-26 last season before putting up a brave front in an 18-12 setback against the Milwaukee Wave in a one-game playoff semifinal, the Blast is 5-10 this season and in the basement of the Major Indoor Soccer League's Eastern Conference.

"To see my team lose, it just makes me feel bad," Blast owner Ed Hale said. "Because I'm a fan, I sit there and watch and the way this has been going, it's very troublesome to me."

At the start of the season, who would have thought the Blast would be visiting the San Diego Sockers tonight with a primary concern of shutting down Paul Wright?

Yes, the same Paul Wright - released by the Blast one month ago for conduct Hale deemed unacceptable - who was brought to Baltimore in 1999 to help win a championship.

Then again, who would have thought at this time that the team's former radio color commentator, Bobby McAvan, would be its third head coach in a month, replacing defender Sean Bowers, who took over for Healey?

"This year's been crazy," veteran goalkeeper Scott Hileman said. "I've played on quite a few teams in my career and gone through coaching changes and stuff like that, but I've never really experienced anything like this. It's tough at times as a player to deal with all the off-the-field stuff that's going on; basically you just want to play."

When McAvan was a member of the Blast in the glory years of the 1980s, he was known as a hard-nosed defender who, as Hale put it, "would get in your face and kick you if he had to in order to win a game."

Hale is counting on McAvan being able to transfer his fierce competitiveness on the field to the bench.

"This is a calculated risk having Bobby come in with no real coaching experience," Hale said. "But what he lacks in coaching experience he makes up for by coming from a winning atmosphere. We're hoping it [becomes contagious] and if we don't get it, I'm the one who owns the company and it's my fault."

Having seen each game from the radio booth the last four-plus years, McAvan - who earlier in the week appointed Baltimore native and former Blast standout Tim Wittman as his assistant in place of Billy Ronson - is fully aware of the challenge that lies ahead.

"There's a mountain to climb," he said. "We're 5-10, we've lost twice as many games as we've won, so I'm trying to work hard and find motivation for these guys. It is what it is. Guys need to step it up and get it done. I don't think it's anything that can't be fixed."

Veteran forward Lee Tschantret, a matter-of-fact professional who has been around the indoor game for 12 years, said two or three wins in a row can get that winning feeling back.

Hileman agrees.

"I try to look forward," he said. "When we go into San Diego I'm not going to be thinking about what happened against Philadelphia."

Instead, he'll be focused on turning aside a shot from Wright.