BALTIMORE — Baltimore Blast forward Lucas Roque is filling up the net at a pace he has never seen in his ten-year professional indoor soccer career.
"It’s the better start of my career. Yes it is," he said.
The 34-year-old Brazilian is leading the Major Arena Soccer League with 16 goals and 20 points through eight games.
"I’ve been lucky but I also work hard for everything to go in," said Roque. "I think what it is is I’m playing a little bit smarter. I’m way more experienced now. Before I was way more physical. Now I make better decisions."
When he scores, he scores. He has tallied three hat tricks, including a four-goal game for the Blast (3-3-2). A system change by head coach David Bascome sparked his success.
"Trying to play our feet instead of trying to play all the time in space making us run to the boards. That helps," said Roque regarding the new system his team plays during games. "You win your one-on-one battle, you basically have the goal to score."
"His passion, his love, his drive for the game has been tremendous. It just flows straight through the whole group," said Bascome. "He has been here for years and has been scoring goals for years. But this year you can see a whole different focus."
Roque is just one player in a determined group on a mission for more success than last year - when they were bounced in the quarterfinals of the playoffs. It was the earliest the Blast had concluded a season in 15 years - when they failed to qualify for the postseason in 2007.
For Bascome, that’s unacceptable for a franchise with ten league championships.
"We are winners here. We love to win," said Bascome. "But I want to now build in a structure so when things are more flowing in that direction it’s going to be even more sustainable."
Roque wants that over any personal prizes.
"I don’t care if I end with the most points, most goals and we don’t win the season," he said. "I’d rather win the championship, like we did the past years, and not be the leading scorer."
The Blast are back on the field on Saturday night. They host Utica inside Towson University's SECU Arena at 6:05 p.m.
Follow Shawn Stepner on Twitter @StepnerWMAR and Facebook
