It had always been Patrick Thompson’s dream to play for the Baltimore Blast.
The journeyman defender made connections in Baltimore early in his career. As a second-year player in 2014-15, he lived in Cockeysville and commuted to Pennsylvania to play for the Harrisburg Heat. His roommate was Jerjer Gibson, who played for the Blast at the time, and he became friends with other Blast players Max Ferdinand, Onua Obasi and Diego Zuniga.
“Being in touch with them from that time until now, that organization set a precedent in my head. Like, that’s how things are properly done,” said the 31-year-old Thompson, now in his 10th indoor season. “I made it a goal a couple of years ago to play for Baltimore for at least one year.”
Throughout the next decade in the Major Arena Soccer League, Thompson had stints with four different teams: Harrisburg, the Syracuse Silver Knights, St. Louis Ambush and Utica City FC. But never with Baltimore.
Thompson’s goal appeared to be in jeopardy in January 2022 when he tore an ACL while playing with Utica. The irony was not lost on him that the injury, the first of any significance in his career, came in a game against Baltimore. He thought his career was over.
“I thought, ‘Oh man, I’m done,'” Thompson said. “Now it’s only going to be coaching.”
In the 10 months after having surgery, Thompson underwent a grueling rehabilitation to be ready to play in the 2022-23 MASL season. He sent a message to Blast head coach David Bascome during the summer to see if he could get an invite to preseason training, but Bascome never got it.
But after a rash of injuries early in the season, Baltimore was in dire need of defensive players. Five veteran defenders missed time, including Adriano Dos Santos, Jereme Raley, Mike Deasel, Joshio Sandoval and Obasi, who had just re-signed with the team.
Thompson was a player Bascome had admired for years: experienced and athletic, with a good understanding of the game and an added bonus of being left-footed, an attribute that could add some balance to a mostly right-footed team.
“This is a young man I had a high interest in for a long time,” Bascome said. “It’s kind of like things were meant to happen.”
Thompson joined the team in December, getting his first action on Dec. 17 in a visit to his old team, Harrisburg. He was reunited with his old friends from Cockeysville, Obasi and Ferdinand.
“From the first day he stepped on the field we just felt it — his demeanor, his attitude, his respect for the game,” Bascome said. “He just blended right into the family.”
The pressure of stepping into a major defensive role so soon after his injury was daunting, Thompson said, but the opportunity, especially to play for the Blast, was too good to pass up.
“It was nerve-wracking if I’m being honest. I was coming up on 10 months [since the ACL injury] when David got me on the phone,” Thompson said. “He’s like, ‘Do you want to do this?'”
“Don’t put pressure on me,” he joked to Bascome.
Humor is Thompson’s outlet in stressful situations. For months, when he was rehabbing alone, it was his solace. So were thoughts of maybe getting healthy enough to play in Baltimore. But, Thompson thought to himself, “Are you going to be scared and crumble or are you going to do what you’ve got to do and don’t let [Bascome] regret giving me this opportunity?”
As the MASL regular season came to a close in early April, it was undeniable that Thompson had made the most of his chance. The Norfolk, Va., native played in 19 games, one of only two Blast defenders to play more than half the season. He helped the team become one of the stingiest defenses in the Eastern Conference and showed no signs of the injury that threatened to derail his career.
Thompson also scored eight goals and contributed two assists, offering an offensive dimension to his game that has made him a Swiss Army knife on every team he’s played for. In six seasons between 2014 and 2020, four with Harrisburg and two with Syracuse, Thompson played at all three levels of the field, scoring a combined 41 goals and assisting on 35 more.
“We are all very happy to have him,” said goalkeeper William Vanzela, who faced Thompson on opposing teams for years. “Playing against him, he was always that annoying defender that was hard to go by. He also goes forward a lot and has a good shot, can finish and score some goals. That’s what he’s giving to us.”
After his first three games with the Blast in mid-December — all road games — Thompson finally got to put on the Baltimore home white jerseys for the first time on Jan. 7 against the Empire Strykers. He put on a show for the SECU Arena crowd, who welcomed him with open arms. He scored his first Blast goal in the 6-4 win.
The moment was an early highlight in his first season and further justification of his years-long desire to play for the organization, Thompson said.
“Even in warmups, people recognized me and said they were so glad to have me,” he said. “I just felt welcome from the day I got to practice to my first home game, and I feel like I’ve always been here without actually being here.”
With two years left on the three-year deal he signed this past fall, Thompson will be in Baltimore for the foreseeable future.
“I’m here to stay,” he said.
Photo Credit: Mikayla Mellis