Bays

Bays coach Kevin Healey is hoping a change of scenery will do his team some good in its home opener tonight at 8:05 against the Delaware Wizards at Fallston High School.Playing home games at UMBC during last year's second outdoor season in the U.S. Interregional Soccer League, the Bays suffered numerous injuries, dropped five of seven one-goal games and finished 6-12.After tonight's game at Fallston -- a move aimed at promoting the Bays to fans in Harford County -- Baltimore will play its nine remaining home games at Catonsville Community College.

Christian Morales scored two first-half goals Thursday and the Baltimore Bays Chelsea Under-15 Boys clinched a spot in the US Youth Soccer National Championships final in Overland Park, Kan., with a 5-2 win over the Mount Hamilton PAC Tigres of California. After a fifth-minute goal from Jeremy Degraffenreidt and another score from Christopher White in the 35th, Morales scored in the 37th and then again in the 45th minute for a 4-1 lead. Romilio Hernandez scored shortly after halftime for Baltimore, which defeated the Concorde Fire Elite, 4-3, in its opener Wednesday.

The Baltimore Bays will take on the Greensboro Dynamo in their United States Interregional Indoor Soccer League home opener on Nov. 12 at Clarence Du Burns Arena in Canton, the team announced yesterday.The Bays, who went 13-1 last season and finished third in the nation after losing to the Chattanooga Express, 8-6, in the first round of the playoffs, will play 10 home games as a member of the league's realigned Northern Division.Among some of the other teams visiting Du Burns Arena this year are the Boston Storm, Long Island Roughriders, New York Fever, Washington Mustangs and the three-time defending indoor champion Atlanta Magic.

No longer are the Baltimore Bays in a position to gain the playoffs without outside assistance."We've got to concentrate on winning our last four and see how the cards fall," said player-assistant coach Billy Ronson. "Win, and hope some other teams lose."As they begin a regular-season-ending stretch of four straight home games at UMBC Stadium tonight against the Connecticut Wolves, the Bays are 3-9, in seventh place in the U.S. Interregional Soccer League's nine-team Atlantic Division.Five teams can make the playoffs.

TULSA, Okla. -- Eric Riedlbauer scored five goals -- two in the last two minutes of the game and inadvertently the game-winner in sudden death -- to give the Baltimore Bays a 10-9 win over the Tulsa Ambush (5-5) in a United States Interregional Soccer League game last night.Down 9-7 with two minutes to play, the Bays (11-2) went to a sixth attacker with Billy Ronson in goal. Riedlbauer scored with 1:22 to play to cut the lead to one and then sent the game to sudden death by scoring his fourth goal with 38 seconds remaining.

In two surprising developments yesterday, the Maryland Bays announced they would play four of 11 home games at RFK Stadium and compete in the Western Division of the American Professional Soccer League this season.Bays president and general manager John Liparini had said last fall that his team would play all its home games at Cedar Lane Park in Columbia as long as the park was brought up to APSL standards.Those standards supposedly have been met with the addition of 1,500 seats to bring the capacity to 4,000.

The Baltimore Bays have signed Tarik Walker through October 1995, but are willing to put him on loan to the Spirit for the 1994-95 National Professional Soccer League indoor season.In that event, he would play only next summer's outdoor U.S. Interregional Soccer League season with the Bays. He is on loan from the Bays now to the Las Vegas Dustdevils of the Continental Indoor Soccer League until the Spirit starts training camp next month."We met with Tarik Sunday before he left for Las Vegas and wemade a gentlemen's agreement he'd be with us this season," said Spirit vice president Drew Forrester.

Tomorrow, the Maryland Bays can relax and have fun.Tonight, there's work to do.The Bays conclude the regular season with two games in Florida this weekend. There's psychological ground to be gained in Fort Lauderdale tonight (7:35), while tomorrow's (8:05 p.m.) game at lowly Miami is a classic getaway affair in which coach Gary Hindley figures to give his reserves playing time.The Bays have already clinched the home-field advantage for the defense of their American Professional Soccer League championship.

The stage has been set for a U.S. Interregional Soccer League indoor championship showdown Sunday between the unbeaten Baltimore Bays and unbeaten Atlanta Magic.All top-seeded Baltimore (12-0) and second-seeded Atlanta (14-0) have to do is win two preliminary-round games to make it to Sunday's final at 3 p.m. at Du Burns Arena.Baltimore and Atlanta do not meet in the preliminary rounds Friday and Saturday. Baltimore got the top seed on goal differential, outscoring its opponents 176-42, compared to Atlanta's 94-31 margin.

Tonight's game in Trenton, N.J., will be a sort of homecoming for Maryland Bays coach Gary Hindley.The Neptune, N.J., native will return to his alma mater, Trenton State College, where he spent his glory days playing soccer for the Lions and where the Bays will take on the Penn-Jersey Spirit.Hindley, a four-year starter for the Lions, said, "I have fond memories from a lot of wins there."So do the Bays, from defeating the Spirit, 2-1, on May 4.But, Hindley said, this Penn-Jersey team isn't the same as the one the Bays faced earlier in the season.