12/18/2009 9:52 AM - The Baltimore Blast improved to 3-1 with a 9-8 victory over the Philadelphia KiXX Friday night at 1st Mariner Arena.  Blast Forward Machel Millwood led all players with three goals on the night.

Millwood scored the first two goals of the game to give the Blast an early 4-0 lead before Anthony Maher scored late in the first quarter to cut the Blast lead to 4-2.

KiXX defender Pat Morris scored the only goal of the second quarter to tie the game at 4-4.

Maher scored again, early in the second half to give Philadelphia its first lead of the night, 6-4.  Less than four minutes later, Blast team captain Robbie Aristodemo took advantage of a two-minute penalty to Jeremy Ortiz, scoring a three-point power-play goal to put the Blast back on top, 7-6.  Millwood completed his hat trick at the 6:35 mark, extending Baltimore's lead to 9-6 but the KiXX answered again, this time with a Leo Gibson goal at 8:49 to cut it to 9-8.

The fourth quarter was scoreless but featured 17 minutes of penalties, all on the KiXX.

The Blast will play their next two games on the road before returning to 1st Mariner Arena on January 8th and 9th to host Monterrey and Milwaukee, respectively.  The team heads to Rockford on the 27th to take on the Rampage in a rematch of the team's only loss of the season, 10-8 on opening night (11/13) and then to Milwaukee for a New Year's Eve match against the Wave.  Tickets to all home games are on sale now at www.TicketMaster.com.