March 26, 2000
A cheerful bunch of Impact players steps on the surface at the State Farm Show Arena (!) in Harrisburg. Hours before this game against the Heat, the Buffalo Blizzard suffers a heavy 25-7 defeat at the hands (feet?) of the Cleveland Crunch, meaning that the Bleu-blanc-noir clinches a second straight NPSL playoff berth. “It made things easier for us,” player-coach John Limniatis tells the Canadian Press. “We approached this game as preparation ahead of the playoffs.” Playing without pressure, the Impact beats the Heat, 15-11, with Jocelyn Roy scoring his first career hat trick.
March 30, 2000
This is not the most spectacular win in the world of sports that day – in tennis, Martina Hingis embarrasses Monica Seles in a 6-0, 6-0 win in Key Biscayne –, but this is significant nonetheless. With a 17-13 victory away at the Buffalo Blizzard, the Impact ties a club record with three straight wins on the road, a feat already achieved in March 1998 and March 1999. Meanwhile, La Presse also tells its readers that the Laval Dynamites have acquired forward Rachel Yankey on loan. She would go on to win title after title with Arsenal, as well as 129 caps with the England national team.
March 31, 1999
“Biello, just like the Rocket,” reads the headline in La Presse. Mauro Biello is unstoppable in 1998-99 and scores his 50th goal of the season – the first of three that night – in a 12-8 Impact win over the Cleveland Crunch. The Bleu-blanc-noir thus ends up with one foot in the playoffs with only two games remaining. Biello would play all 40 games that season, tallying 53 goals – 6 three-pointers, 33 two-pointers and 14 one-pointers – and 37 assists for 135 points, the best of his six seasons of indoor soccer.
