MELVINDALE, Mich. – The Detroit Waza Flo ended their eight-game losing streak Saturday with a 13-8 win over the Harrisburg Heat in Melvindale.
The win comes just after the team sent its co-owner, coach and player Dominic Scicluna to the Las Vegas Legends.
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"I was happy with the attitude and performance of the team against Harrisburg," said co-owner and assistant coach Mario Scicluna.
The action began with a quick Heat goal just over a minute into the game by Kenny Fultz. Detroit needed a few more minutes to get on the board, but when they did, the floodgates opened.
Danny Dragoi started off the scoring frenzy with a goal and Daniel Mattos added another to give the Waza Flo a 2-1 lead after the first quarter.
The second quarter started with a goal by Harrisburg, when Patrick Thompson caught Detroit's goalie out of position and scored an empty netter.
The next five goals and the rest of the half belonged to Detroit. A.J. Jobe scored two goals in the quarter and Zach Bowman and Victor Otieno each contributed a goal.
The offensive flow Detroit was on point during the fifth goal of the night, as it used a 1, 2, 3 smooth action passing play from captain Miki Djerisilo, to Otieno, to Sam Fiore for the goal.
After the half, the Heat once again started the action off with a goal just a minute into play, this one from Chris Hall. Detroit responded with great communication as head coach Costea Decu's shot rebounded to Danny Dragoi, who passed it to Drew Ducker for a "The D's have it" goal.
The Waza Flo's Zane Polack made a nice step move around the Heat goalie to catch him out of the net and made a sliding shot into the bottom left corner to make the score 9-3 in the third quarter. With just seconds left in the quarter, the Heat tried to stem the flow of Detroit goals and scored a goal of their own. But Decu returned the favor and scored to end the quarter.
The Heat scored again to begin the fourth quarter with a goal by Val Teixeira. The Waza Flo's Bowman answered right back with his second goal of the night. Harrisburg was awarded a free kick with 10 minutes left in the game, but it was strongly denied by Detroit's keeper, Trent Messick, whose goalie instincts were strong throughout the night.
Harrisburg answered with goals from Georges Noubossie and Teixeira to make it 11-7 Waza Flo with three minutes left.
Detroit's Nik Djokic put a decisive shot into the net before the Heat pulled their goalie with two minutes left to add an extra defender, despite the 12-7 deficit.
Detroit's Chris Williams shut down any rally attempts by the Heat with the final goal of the night and secured the 13-8 win.
Even with the win, Detroit's playoff chances are slim. Detroit is in fourth place in the Eastern Division with a 4-12 record.
The team is three wins behind third-place Rochester (7-8) and four behind second-place Syracuse (8-7). The MASL playoff format puts the top three teams in the Eastern Division in the postseason.
To earn a playoff spot, Detroit has to win the rest of its games (4) and Rochester has to lose the rest of its games (5). Two of Rochester's games will come against the last place Heat.
The final home game for Detroit will be Saturday at 7 p.m. against the Chicago Mustangs in Melvindale at the Civic Arena.
There is a ticket deal for this last game on Valentine's Day. Fans get a "Sweetheart of a Deal" and all tickets will be $4 for children (3-12 years old) and $12 for adults.
A Mr. Wazatine contest will take place online this week for fans to vote for which player should be crowned their top Waza Valentine that night. Check with @DetroitWazaFlo on twitter and Detroit Waza Flo on facebook for details.
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