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 The last time the Baltimore Blast visited U.S. Cellular Arena, they shut out the Milwaukee Wave for the final 50 minutes and dealt the home team its first loss of the season.
Those points appeared to provide some motivation for the Wave on Saturday night.
Greg Howes had a goal and two assists in a seven-goal first quarter as Milwaukee raced out to a 14-0 lead and thumped the Blast 22-8 in a Major Indoor Soccer League match watched by 4,707 fans at U.S. Cellular Arena.
Howes opened the scoring 4:34 into the game and after he set up Josh Rife's goal with 41 seconds left in the opening period, the Wave (15-2) were well on their way in the matchup between the 2011 MISL finalists and current division leaders.
JP Rodrigues, Giuliano Oliveiro, Jonathan Greenfield, Hewerton Moreira and Marco Terminesi also scored in the early surge, which saw Milwaukee find the back of the net in the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th minutes.
Baltimore (14-5), which scored the final nine points in a 9-4 win over the Wave on Dec. 31, got within 14-4 on Mike Lookingland's goal 29 seconds into the second half.
But Howes and Oliveiro answered with goals in a 2:08 span midway through the third quarter, and Moreira and Rodrigues scored in the fourth as Milwaukee posted a season-high point total for a Blast opponent and won its fourth straight game.
Howes finished the night with two goals and three assists – he ranks sixth in the league with 53 points, leads the Wave with 19 goals and is second on the team with 15 assists. Oliveiro and Moreira each had five-point games as Milwaukee saw 11 of its 14 field players record points in the rout.
Marcel Feenstra made 16 saves for the Wave, who have a five-game lead in the Central Division and can clinch the division title with any combination of wins and Missouri losses totaling two. Baltimore wrapped up the Eastern Division title earlier in the week.
Milwaukee closes out its regular-season home schedule against its division rivals next weekend, playing host to the Wichita Wings (7-10) at 8 p.m. Friday and the Comets (11-8) at 4 p.m. Sunday, before a season-ending five-game road trip.
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