Game Preview 12/27 and 12/28– Heat Play Road Doubleheader This Weekend

Harrisburg Visits Rochester Friday, Utica Saturday

The Harrisburg Heat of the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) go on the road for two games this weekend. The Heat visit the Rochester Lancers on Friday evening at 7:00 P.M. The Heat then travel to Utica on Saturday night to play Utica City F.C. Game time on Saturday is 7:00 P.M. The Heat currently have a record of 3-1 and are in third place in the eight team Eastern Conference. The Heat have defeated Rochester three times and suffered their lone defeat against Utica by a score of 4-3. Both games can be viewed on line at masltv.com.

With the Heat getting off to a strong start this season, individual players are also being honored and appearing on the MASL league statistics leaderboard. The team is being led by Dom Francis who just signed a five year extension to his contract to remain in Harrisburg. Francis has scored ten goals for the Heat in the first four games of the year and currently ranks third in the MASL in goals scored. Francis has also been named to the MASL Team of the Week twice this season. The Heat have also been strong defensively as the Heat have allowed only twelve goals this year. Elton de Oliveira leads the team in blocks with nine which ranks tied for second in the league. William Banahene and Jesus “Chuy” Molina have proven to be an excellent tandem in goal.

The Heat are looking to continue the progress they made during the 2018/2019 season. With Head Coach Pat Healey at the helm, the Heat increased their wins by 83% last year as they finished with a 11-13 record. There was also significant improvement during the season last year as the Heat began with a 1-7 record in the first eight games of the year. Over the final sixteen games, the Heat won 10 games including two wins over the Baltimore Blast and wins against Utica City FC and the Milwaukee Wave. Milwaukee was the 2018/2019 champions of the Major Arena Soccer League and Baltimore and Utica were play-off teams last season.